BANGOR — A federal employee from Waterville was sentenced Monday after pleading guilty to charges in March that he viewed and downloaded child pornography on his work computer.

Terrence Talbot, 56, who worked for the U.S. Geological Survey’s New England Water Science Center in Augusta, was sentenced to time-served, five years of supervised release, and $38,000 in restitution.

Talbot was initially arrested in December last year before being released on an unsecured $2,500 bond. He had agreed to participate in a computer and internet monitoring and restriction program while out on bond. The charges he faced carry punishments up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

The arrest came after Talbot admitted to federal investigators in November last year that he was searching for and accessing child pornography on his work computer, downloading images, and putting them on an external USB drive. Investigators later said Talbot also voluntarily gave investigators a USB drive of images of underage girls saved from the computer during their meeting.

According to the criminal complaint, the Office of Inspector General for the Department of the Interior, which oversees USGS, was first alerted in July that year that an employee was using a work computer to search for pornographic materials.

Talbot said at the time of his confession that he had no other computers other than his government computer to search for child pornography.

Judge Lance Walker handed down the decision at the Margaret Chase Smith Federal Building & Courthouse in Bangor. Talbot was represented by attorney Brad Grant, who could not be reached for comment Monday.

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