A 54-year-old Austin man who had more than 1,000 files of child pornography on his computer was sentenced to 120 days in the Mower County jail and five years probation Friday in Mower County court.

Along with jail time and probation, Owen Thurston Stevenson, Jr. must register as a sex offender, complete a sex offender treatment program, abstain from alcohol and abstain from accessing the internet unless otherwise approved by his correctional agent.

Judge Donald E. Rysavy referred to Stevenson’s offense as one of the “insidious crimes that victimizes the children who are forced to perform over and over and over again.”

“This is not a victimless crime,” said County Attorney Kristen Nelson Friday during court. “These are real children and these are real crimes against these children.”

According to a criminal complaint, Stevenson’s apartment was searched in January 2009 after a Minneapolis police investigation into child porn shared on the Internet identified a computer in the residence as a possible source.

Local law enforcement and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension seized several computer towers during the search.

They also spoke with Daralyn Marie Herrald, 24, a woman who lives with Stevenson at 705 W. Oakland Ave. She said both she and Stevenson used the computer in question. However, Herrald initially indicated that she only downloaded adult porn, while Stevenson sometimes downloaded child porn.

She said he showed her videos that he had downloaded from the Internet. Herrald also gave authorities detailed directions to find the illicit files on the computer.

Officers later spoke with Stevenson over the phone. He admitted to downloading the child porn but said he wasn’t sure if Herrald had downloaded any on her own.

In July of 2009, a forensic analysis of the seized computer came back and revealed that there were a total of 1,079 images and 29 movie files relating to child porn on the hard drive.

The evidence was sent to the Child Victim Identification Program, which is run through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The CVIP indicated in September of the same year that 220 images and five videos were of known child victims.

Reporter Mike Rose contributed to this report.