A Marshall, Sask., man has been sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted on more than 50 counts of child pornography charges.

Shane Dale Pattison, 22, pled guilty earlier this year to 53 counts relating to child pornography, including possession and distribution of images as well as production of written child pornography.

The sentence was given in Saskatoon court on Friday, Aug. 17, 2012. Pattison has been given credit for his time in custody and will serve a jail term of four years and seven months. He will be eligible for parole after serving one third of his term. Part of the sentence was a mandatory lifetime placement on the national sex offender registry and a 20-year ‘parks and playground’ ban.

Defense lawyer Brian Pfefferle said he was not surprised with Pattison’s sentencing.

“A five year sentence was certainly within the realm of possibility here,” he said. “Both my client and I knew that was within the range of sentences that he may receive and the judge essentially split the decision down the middle.”

Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench crown prosecutor Mike Segu sought a seven-year sentence for Pattison, while the defense asked for two to three years of jail time.

Pfefferle said Pattison’s sentence could be the highest sentence handed down in Saskatchewan for child pornography-only offenses.

“When you’re dealing with a child pornography case with 53 counts, more counts than other case than we could find in Canada, we knew that there would be some sort of precedent setting type of decision coming from the court,” he said. “The volume and the amount of the material here, we were aware would likely set a bar of some sort with these offenses and would potentially be happening not only in the province but maybe in the country.”

Pfefferle said there were a number of mitigating factors in the sentence, including Pattison’s young age, likelihood of rehabilitation and entering of a guilty plea. Pfefferle added Pattison has been taking the events since his arrest ‘in stride.’

Pattison was arrested in November 2010 following a lengthy investigation by the Saskatchewan RCMP Internet Child Exploitation unit. The investigation turned up more than 4,000 sexually explicit images and videos of young children and infants.

The crown said Pattison used social media, email and peer-to-peer networking to share images and videos with hundreds of contacts. Police also said Pattison had been seeking babysitting jobs in both Edmonton and Lloydminster through SOSsitter, Kijiji and Craigslist.

When police first arrested Pattison, they found one recently taken digital image and acted quickly to track down the suspect, which led them to a 35-year-old Idaho man. Pattison was trading images with the man using text message and emails. Police used this information to track down and arrest the American. The warrant executed in the U.S. also led to the safe rescue of a four-year-old girl.