(Lincoln) -- A Lincoln man will spend nearly 16 years in federal prison on child pornography charges.
Forty-one-year-old Ronald Barnes was sentenced this week in federal court to 15 years and nine months after entering a guilty plea on charges of possessing and receiving child porn.
Barnes was arrested in January after an investigation by agents with the Illinois Attorney General's Office and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Law enforcement officials identified Barnes' Internet address after he offered to participate in the distribution of child pornography via a peer-to-peer network in November of last year.
A subsequent search of Barnes' Lincoln residence turned up incriminating files stored on his computer, and child pornography DVDs.
The case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide federal initiative.