An Auckland IT consultant has been sentenced to eight months home detention, for distributing pictures and videos of child sex abuse online.
Jonathan Haffenden pleaded guilty to the charges in the Auckland District Court this week.
Haffenden used Windows Live Messenger and Skype to discuss and exchange the files, which included images of young boys.
He was caught out when one of those he had sent more than 50 such files to turned out to be an undercover investigator from the Department of Internal Affairs.
Haffenden pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to 300 hours of community work, and eight months home detention.
Department of Internal Affairs community safety manager Steve O'Brien said the ruling showed people considering downloading such material that they would be caught.