A Coupeville man was sentenced to two and half years in prison on Monday for having child pornography.

James Saxman pleaded guilty in Island County Superior Court in August to two counts of possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct in the first degree.

Monday, Judge Vickie Churchill agreed with the joint sentence recommendation worked out by the prosecution and defense as part of the plea bargain and sent him to prison for 30 months.

In a pre-sentence investigation report, Susan Nikula, a community corrections officer with the Department of Corrections, called the offenses “abhorrent” and that they should be “punished accordingly.”

“His conduct clearly indicates his desire to promote the creation, distribution and viewing of the sexual and physical abuse of children,” she wrote.

“The victims in these depictions suffer a degree of emotional and physical harm that is most likely immeasurable.”

Saxman, 64, was arrested on June 6, 2016 during a raid of his home by federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security.

Saxman was present and his computer was “actively downloading numerous files with names indicative of child pornography,” wrote one of the investigating agents.

The computer was later found to contain 3,118 child pornographic images and videos.

Several videos included scenes with babies, two just 10-12 months old.

According to the pre-sentence investigation report, Saxman expressed regret in his defendant’s statement regarding the offenses and said his conduct was cascading.

“I watched child porn, but the comments I made when I got arrested were taken out of context and misconstrued. Every single one of those I watched was the worst thing I ever did. I watched them for over a year. I related to it but it happened to me, as twisted as it sounds. I used to look at Penthouse and Playboy but from there it just went to that (child porn),” Saxman said, according to the report.

During his arrest, Saxman allegedly told one of the agents that they were focusing their efforts on the wrong people.

“If you’re gonna be hassling somebody, you need to be hassling the people that are putting that (child pornography/child models) there (internet) … I’m not one, I’m a victim because somebody is putting that there and I got sucked into it,” he said, according to court records.

The sentence came with a host of release conditions, the vast majority of which severely restrict his future presence around children.

He was also banned from using the internet or having a computer without prior approval from a corrections officer, and is required to undergo sexual deviancy treatment and substance abuse treatment. Finally, he must register as a sex offender for the period required by law.

Saxman was a longtime bartender at a popular waterfront tavern in Coupeville.

At the time of his arrest, he worked occasionally as a carpenter and maintenance man at an Oak Harbor hotel.