SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A 61-year-old man will spend 11 months in jail after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography and will be a registered sex offender for the next 10 years.

Harold Wedgerfield, who was arrested in March 2009 as part of the largest child porn bust in Canadian history, was sentenced Thursday morning for having hundreds of videos depicting children as young as one year old involved in sexual acts with men.

Between two computers and an external hard drive that police seized, Wedgerfield had a total of 496 videos and 127 images.

As part of "Project Salvo," the largest child pornography bust in Canadian history, Wedgerfield was one of 50 people arrested across the country. During the nation-wide investigation, investigators tracked Wedgerfield's IP address and determined he was downloading child pornography. A sexually explicit video that investigators uploaded to the Internet was found on Wedgerfield's computer when they raided his home on March 4, 2009. The video depicted two girls, said to be two and three years old, involved in sex acts with a man.

Crown prosecutor Shannon Smallwood said Wedgerfield's videos ranged in length, some depicting numerous young girls, another involving a six-year-old being molested while "trying to break free and crying out."

Wedgerfield, who had no criminal record, sat silently in the courtroom while the facts were read aloud. His lawyer, Serge Petitpas, said after the charges were laid, his client made an effort to seek help, attending sessions on his own with a psychologist. A pre-sentence report, which outlined a history of addiction, including alcohol, gambling, drugs and use of the Internet, said Wedgerfield started looking at child pornography because "adult pornography was not arousing anymore."

Smallwood called the material disturbing and said jail time is the only solution.

"These children are real," said Smallwood. "It's incomprehensible why someone would want to view the abuse of children."

Territorial court Judge Brian Bruser said the material he reviewed was disturbing and upsetting, particularly the words found on the file names of the pornography, which included "rape" and "incest."

"Child pornography is a rehearsal for real life," said Bruser, reading from the pre-sentence report.

On top of the 11 months in jail and the 10-year sex offender status, Wedgerfield will be required to give a DNA sample to authorities. He was also given three years probation where, upon his release from jail, he will not be allowed to own a computer, access the Internet or be in a position of trust where in contact with people under the age of 16. He is also required to allow police to search his residence without a warrant and must attend sex offender counselling.