A Cerritos man who admitted to distributing child pornography involving illicit images of youngsters under 10 was sentenced today to five years behind bars.

Gerald Patrick Beaver, 55, was also sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson to serve 10 years of supervised release following his prison term and was ordered to register as a sex offender. He was allowed to self-surrender on June 28.

Wilson said Beaver’s prison sentence would have been greater “except for the fact that over the last six years, the defendant has demonstrated rehabilitation. And that’s something the court doesn’t see very often—if ever.”

Beaver was found to have 6,000-plus images and more than 450 videos of child porn on his laptop computer following a search warrant served at his home in May 2012.

Beaver admitted to distributing the illegal material to undercover investigators in New Zealand and Oklahoma over the internet using the Gigatribe file-sharing program, according to documents filed in Los Angeles federal court.

“I apologize to the victims in the case,” the defendant told the court, adding that he acknowledges “the pain and suffering caused by child abuse.”