CBC News has learned the 'Good Samaritan' behind an online ad offering free lodgings in his Fredericton home has been convicted of possessing child pornography and is on Canada's sex offender's registry.

Christopher Payne, 51, posted an ad on Kijiji and Craigslist offering "a free room to anyone in need." The ad did not disclose his 2007 conviction for possession of child pornography.

According to Provincial Court of Appeal records, Payne was sentenced to 22 months in custody.

Court documents state hundreds of images and videos were found on his computer of "… young girls under the age of 18 years either totally or partially naked displaying their genital and anal regions overtly by virtue of the unnatural poses into which their bodies had been contorted."

Christopher Payne, who originally posted the 'free room' ad, was convicted of possessing child pornography in 2007. (Shane Fowler/CBC) Images were also recovered of Payne with girls between the age of eight and nine years old that were also deemed to be child pornography.

Payne confirmed the conviction to CBC News but maintains his innocence. He appealed the conviction but that appeal was rejected in a unanimous decision by the Court of Appeal in 2008.

Since confirming his past conviction to CBC, Payne's ad has been removed from both electronic bulletin boards.