CONCORD — Roughly 11 months after federal authorities executed a search warrant at the residence where Zachary Cote had been living, the now 24-year-old Franklin man pleaded guilty in federal court to possessing child sexual abuse material, according to a statement issued by the office of U.S. Attorney for New Hampshire John J. Farley.

And on Tuesday, Cote received his sentence: Sixty months, or five years, in federal prison.

According to authorities, agents executing the search warrant in October 2020 seized several electronic devices, and upon conducting forensic examinations of the devices, they located more than 2,500 photos and 300 videos “depicting child sexual exploitation material,” according to the statement.

Cote, who entered the guilty pleas in September, is also ordered to pay $26,000 in restitution and will be under supervised release for eight years after he completes his sentence.

Authorities launched an investigation into Cote upon discovering “activity that occured on a social media platform,” which they traced to Cote.

“During a consensual interview, Cote admitted (to) viewing and possessing child sexual abuse material on his phone and trading the material with others online,” authorities said in the statement.

“Protecting the innocence of children is one of the foremost obligations of law enforcement,” said Farley, the U.S. Attorney.

“Those who possess and distribute graphic sexual images of children are drawing pleasure from horrific acts of child abuse and committing a serious federal crime. In our ongoing effort to protect young people from abuse, we will continue to work closely with the FBI and all of our law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute crimes related to images of child sexual abuse,” Farley added.

Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division, said investigating violent crimes against children “is a top priority of ours at the FBI.

“Sadly, (Cote’s) despicable actions re-victimized the minors featured in these images and videos all over again.

“By his own admission,” Bonavolonta said, Cote “had four phones filled with thousands of explicit images and hundreds of videos depicting kids under the age of 12 being sexually abused.

“Now more than ever, our children need to be protected from predators seeking to exploit their innocence,” Bonavolonta said, adding that the sentence imposed Tuesday “helps us to do that by keeping Zachary Cote behind bars for quite some time.”

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.