A Bakersfield man has been sentenced to more than 12 years in prison after his cell phone was found with hundreds of pictures of child porn on it, federal officials said Monday.

 

Ralph Dale Shepherd, 58, of Bakersfield was sentenced to 151 months in prison in a federal courtroom Monday.

 

Investigators with the Bakersfield office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said they found Shepherd's phone with 300-600 images of children "engaged in sexually explicit conduct" in Kern County in 2014, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

 

“We are gratified by the sentence imposed which will provide some measure of justice,” said Ryan L. Spradlin, special agent in charge for HSI San Francisco, in the press release.

 

“Together, with our local law enforcement partners, we will continue to put predators behind bars and continue our efforts to create a safer community for our children", Spradlin added.

 

The case was part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative to crack down on child sexual exploitation and abuse.