A Gambrills man was sentenced to eight years in jail after pleading guilty to possessing hundreds of images and videos of child pornography. 

Robert Jay Hudson, 25, will also have 40 years of supervised release and must register as a sex offender. Prosecutors said investigators discovered photos and videos on Hudson’s computer depicting “sadistic” sexual abuse of children under 12, including infants. 

Rod J. Rosentein, the U.S. Attorney for the State of Maryland, announced the sentence Tuesday.

According to details of Hudson’s plea agreement, investigators were first alerted to the case in April of 2011, when someone with access to Hudson’s computer discovered images of child porn.

That person alerted Anne Arundel County police, who executed a search warrant and seized a hard drive and media player containing pornographic images of children. County police did not charge Hudson at that time. 

In November of last year, a Maryland State Trooper using an undercover computer discovered child pornography on a file-sharing network used at Hudson’s home. The trooper chatted with Hudson online and promised to deliver more images in person. At this time, according to the plea agreement, Hudson admitted he had downloaded child pornography from the Internet.

The next day, Maryland State Police executed a search warrant and seized 627 images and 144 videos containing child pornography, the state’s attorney’s office said.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative of the Department of Justice designed to combat child exploitation. Homeland Security Investigations also took part in the investigation.