Ypsilanti Township man sentenced to more than 7 years in prison for distributing child pornography

An Ypsilanti Township man who pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography was sentenced in federal court in Detroit to more than seven years in prison, court records show.

Brian Elliot Demarest, 41, a former handyman, was sentenced Sept. 14 by U.S. District Judge George Steeh to seven years and seven months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release.

Brian Elliot Demarest

Demarest pleaded guilty in March under a plea agreement that called for three counts of distributing child pornography and a count of possessing child pornography to be dismissed.

Investigators say they found more than 3,500 images of pornography — the majority of which was child pornography — after examining memory cards for Demarest's BlackBerry, a smartphone that includes Internet access, records show. Some pornographic images and videos were of girls as young as toddlers, documents say.

The case was investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and Washtenaw County sheriff's deputies.