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An Alden man who pleaded guilty to multiple counts of child pornography possession in April was sentenced to eight years and four months in prison Thursday in Freeborn County District Court.

James Alan Rambo, 39, will serve 15 years of conditional release after he completes his prison term.

Rambo in April pleaded guilty to seven of the 11 felony counts against him, including three counts of possession of pornographic work-computer disk/electronic/magnetic/optical image with porn and four counts of possession of pornographic work of a minor under 13. 

He was charged after the Minneapolis Police Department contacted a Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office detective in January 2021 about a cyber-tip on child pornography related to a suspect in Alden.

Last June the Sheriff’s Office conducted a search warrant of the home where Rambo was living, seizing several laptops, desktops, phones, flashcards and hard drives from the basement where he lived. 

Authorities stated on just one of the hard drives seized there were allegedly over 100,000 child pornographic items, of which over 29,000 were known victims from the Internet Crimes Against Children. Court documents allege 29 videos included victims under 3 years old. 

Assistant County Attorney Abigail Lambert said the prosecution fought for the highest penalty possible of 100 months in prison, while the defense argued for 84 months. 

Rambo in his plea agreed that the child pornography involved younger children under 13, most involving young children being penetrated by an adult. 

Rambo will serve his sentence at the St. Cloud correctional facility.