An Alabama man Friday was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison for possession of child pornography, federal prosecutors said.

U.S. District Judge Corey L. Maze sentenced William Jason Walker, 49, of Childersburg, and ordered him to pay $51,000 in restitution to the victims. He also must serve 10 years of supervised release once his sentence is complete, U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona said in a news release.

Walker pleaded guilty in the case in September 2020. The conviction will require Walker to register as a sex offender.

“Victimization of children will not be tolerated. We will prosecute those who produce, possess or distribute child pornography to the fullest extent of the law,” Escalona said. “Thanks to the collaborative work of the Swedish National Police and the Department of Homeland Security, a child predator has been taken out of our community for many years and will be closely monitored upon his release.”

In November 2019, the Department of Homeland Security Cyber Crimes Center received information from the Swedish company SKF that images of child pornography had been downloaded to a company laptop assigned to Walker. The IP address was traced to the company’s factory in Moody, Alabama, where Walker worked as a sales representative.

Walker used his employer’s laptop, as well as an iPad and thumb drives, to view the images, authorities said. Forensic examination of the seized devices revealed 16,870 images of suspected child sexual abuse material.