CONCORD — An Exeter man was sentenced Tuesday to four years in prison after pleading guilty to possession of photographs and videos of child sexual abuse.

Nathan Kohler, 41, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Joseph LaPlante. In addition to his prison sentence, Kohler was sentenced to five years of supervised release and ordered to pay $21,000 in restitution to the victims of the crime.

Kohler pleaded guilty July 8 on a charge of possession of child pornography.

“The defendant’s actions fuel the horrific pattern of sexual abuse of children, causing these victims a lifetime of suffering,” U.S. Attorney Jane E. Young said in a press release. “Those who search the internet for these images documenting the pain and abuse of a child attract attention. “They will be found, tried and imprisoned.”

Kohler’s arrest came after the NH Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force identified a target IP address for BitTorrent software that made child sexual exploitation material available for download via the Peer-to-Peer network BitTorrent. The IP address leads to Kohler’s residence in Exeter.

On April 5, 2023, law enforcement executed a federal search warrant at his home. During this search, law enforcement seized a Dell laptop from the defendant’s bedroom containing approximately 2,000 images and two video files of child sexual abuse. Numerous images depicted prepubescent children or minors under the age of 12, as well as sadistic or masochistic behavior.

During an interview with law enforcement, Kohler admitted that he was the person using the internet at the residence to download the images and that he had been engaging in such activities for several years.

Homeland Security Investigations led the investigation. Assistance was provided by the New Hampshire Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the Exeter Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Ward prosecuted the case, while Kohler was represented by the Federal Defender’s Office.

“Kohler admitted to downloading child sexual abuse material at his home for years,” said HSI New England Special Agent in Charge Michael J. Krol. “The children depicted in these images were victimized at the time the images were taken and victimized again each time they are distributed. HSI is working tirelessly with our partners to ensure those who trafficked in these horrific images are brought to justice.”

This case was filed as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual abuse and exploitation. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood brings together federal, state, and local resources to identify, arrest, and prosecute individuals who abuse children, as well as identify and rescue victims.

This article was first published in the Portsmouth Herald: Exeter man sentenced to 4 years in prison for possessing child sexual abuse images