Counselor sentenced for child porn

OAKLAND, Calif., March 1 (UPI) -- A California youth counselor has been sentenced to 29 years in prison for producing child pornography, the U.S. Justice Department said.

A federal court in Oakland Wednesday also ordered Thomas Perez Jewell, 54, to pay $234,000 in restitution.

Court documents said after Jewell was first suspected of distributing and possessing child pornography, a search of his Pleasant Hill apartment revealed evidence Jewell had sexually molested two minors and videotaped the abuse.

The department said a hard drive was hidden under the mattress with thousands of images of his victims.

Before his arrest, Jewell was employed as a youth counselor and therapist in Contra Costa, Calif.