A 71-year-old Mukilteo man was sentenced this morning in U.S. District Court in Seattle to five years in prison for distribution of child pornography.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Dee Neil Obee came to the attention of the FBI in 2006 during an investigation into an on-line chat room involved in the trading of child pornography. An undercover FBI agent posted that he had photos of the sexual abuse of a 4-year-old girl. No such photos existed, but Obee responded that he was interested in downloading the images.

In February 2007, Obee was contacted by FBI agents and told agents that he did download child pornography, but deleted the images after he viewed them. A review of Obee's computer showed a small number of images. Given his age and the small number of images, the case was not prosecuted federally.

About a year later, Obee initiated an on-line chat with an undercover agent in Detroit who was posing as the mother of two minor girls. Obee sent the agent images of child pornography as well as inappropriate images of himself. A search warrant was served on Obee's computer and a small amount of child porn was recovered. Obee pleaded guilty on March 27, 2008.