A Rome man was sentenced to serve more than 12 years in prison Thursday in U.S. District Court in Rome for the distribution of child pornography.

Michael Zachary Allmon, 28, of Rome, pleaded guilty to the charge on Jan. 11.

According to U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates and the information presented in court: 

In September 2010 a law enforcement agent working undercover downloaded images of child pornography from Allmon, whose collection of such images was available to others through publicly available file sharing software.

“This defendant amassed a huge collection of images and videos of young boys and distributed those images to others,” Yates said. “He has fueled a market for these horrendous images and has earned a substantial prison sentence.”

When approached by the FBI, Allmon initially denied the charges, but later admitted that he had a large collection of child pornography and that he knowingly shared those images with other individuals.

Allmon also posed as a teenage boy and engaged in sexually explicit online communications with an actual minor boy residing in another state. Allmon sent that minor pornographic images and the boy sent Allmon pornographic images of himself.

Judge Robert L. Vining also sentenced Allmon to supervised release for the rest of his life. He will be required to register as a sex offender.

There is no parole in the federal system. 

“The FBI works hard to protect America’s children from individuals such as Mr. Allmon. These individuals often have no regard for the youth that they victimize,” said Brian D. Lamkin, special agent in charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office. “Anyone with information regarding such activities is urged to contact their nearest FBI field office.”