A Dannevirke sports coach and teacher aide has been sentenced over the possession of child sexual exploitation material in the Palmerston North District Court.
Bradley Johnson, 43, received a four-and-a-half-year sentence on Monday for multiple charges after he pleaded guilty.
An investigation by the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) revealed Johnson was involved in trading child sexual exploitation material, however found he in no way searched for this material while on school property or using school equipment.
The DIA, Oranga Tamariki and Ministry of Education are working with the school he worked at to ensure the necessary information and support services are available to the community.
He was not a full-time registered teacher, and can now never be one since as a part of his sentence he has been added to the Child Sexual Offenders Register.
DIA digital child exploitation team manager Tim Houston says he welcomes the guilty plea.
"People who think they're safe in the confines of their own home, viewing or distributing objectionable material on the internet, should think again," he says in a statement.
"People who download this material feed a market that results in crimes being committed against young children."
Houston adds the DIA will continue to work with its national partners to help keep the most vulnerable in our community safe.
