A Colorado Springs man who amassed a collection of more than 4,000 images of child pornography, many of them of a sadistic nature, was sentenced to 97 months in federal prison Monday.

Kevin Shea, 43, used a peer-to-peer software program, identifying himself as “pervymcperv,” to distribute pictures of porn involving prepubescent girls.

Shea pleaded guilty to one count of possession in a three-count indictment that included a charge of distribution of child porn.

His lawyer, Dennis Hartley, said Shea had been sexually abused as a child and he used the pornography as an escape when he later slipped into depression.

U.S. District Judge Philip Brimmer was skeptical of Hartley’s reasoning. Only someone who traded in the porn or who had a sexual attraction to children would amass a collection of the size found on computers and hard drives at Shea’s home, Brimmer said.

“In other words, he is a pedophile,” the judge said.

Hartley, who wanted a sentence of 60 months for Shea, said he “respectfully” disagreed that Shea was a pedophile.

The lawyer argued that Shea never had inappropriate contact with any children. “Someone of his age who is a pedophile would have had illicit contact with a child before this time,” Hartley said.

Shea began seeing a therapist in 2011 when the Federal Bureau of Investigation became aware that he was trading porn on the Internet.

The treating psychologist has said Shea made great progress in therapy, Hartley said.

Forensic examinations of an external hard-drive owned by Shea found 3,966 pictures and 228 videos. He had more than 600 images on laptops, Brimmer said.

“He fueled the demand for child pornography and as a result children were victimized,” Brimmer said.

Brimmer also ordered Shea to pay $1,000 each to seven known “victims” who were abused by those who participated in making the porn found in his home.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Covell said though Shea’s is the first child porn case she has handled, she has seen many gruesome pictures taken in criminal cases. She was shocked by the pictures in Shea’s collection, many of which involved torture, Covell said.

“I was horrified and revolted when I started going through them.”

Shea said he became depressed after his mother died and a close friend committed suicide. He cut off all social contact and started viewing adult pornography, before discovering chat rooms that cater to users of child porn.

He wanted love and attention, he said, and discovered that if he could provide pornographic pictures or videos, people who also had an interest in child porn would give him that.

“I didn’t realize that I was going deeper and losing more of my soul each time,” Shea said.

The ability to trade the material over the Internet has led to an explosion of child porn cases, Covell said.

“Our office is overwhelmed with the number of child pornography cases coming in,” she said.

Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671, tmcghee@denverpost.com or twitter.com/dpmcghee