KANSAS CITY, KAN.– A registered Kansas sex offender was sentenced this week to 10 years in federal prison for possessing child pornography, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

In addition, the defendant was ordered to pay $5,000 to the fund established by the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act.

Benjamin Grace, 32, Lawrence, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography. In his plea, he admitted he was identified during an FBI investigation of a service on the internet that was involved in the production, advertisement and distribution of child pornography.

After executing a search warrant at his home in Lawrence, FBI agents interviewed him at his workplace in Overland Park. He admitted viewing child pornography, including images of children as young as five years old.

At the time, Grace was listed on a Kansas Bureau of Investigation web site because of a 2008 felony conviction in Johnson County on a charge of electronic sexual solicitation of a child.