Raleigh, N.C. — A Tarboro man has been sentenced to 87 months in federal prison for downloading child pornography off the Internet, authorities said.

Daniel Ray Hyman pleaded guilty to the charge in September after his arrest in a nationwide crackdown by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement dubbed "Operation Emissary."

The crackdown began after ICE learned of a commercial Web site selling access to child pornography. The site, titled “Illegal.CP,” contained extreme images of child pornography and sold access to these images and videos, which it openly stated were illegal, authorities said. Hyman was identified as a subscriber to the site, which led to his arrest.

“Production and consumption of child pornography not only directly abuses the children shown in the images, but its continued use and dissemination raises the everyday risks presented to our children," U.S. Attorney George Holding said in a statement.