Port Charlotte man receives 7 years for child porn

FORT MYERS, Fla. A Port Charlotte man was sentenced Monday to seven years in prison on child pornography charges.

More than 5,000 images of suspected child pornography were discovered on computers found in the home of Nicholas Albert Berlen, 26, on the 2400 block of Mockingbird Street, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said earlier this year.

He used file-sharing programs to download and transmit pornographic images involving children, the state attorney’s office said in announcing his sentence. Some of the images depict children as young as 5 years old, according to the FDLE.

Berlen pleaded guilty to 10 counts of child pornography possession and one count of computer pornography. He’s slated to serve five years of sex offender probation upon his release from prison.

He also must register as a sex offender, is prohibited from having contact with minors, and must forfeit any electronics that were seized with the images on them, the state attorney’s office said.