Scott Dale Kerber had already been sentenced once for possessing child pornography. Thursday, he received an additional sentence for the same crime.

In a rare case, the Bountiful man was indicted on a federal charge of possession of child pornography after he was charged and sentenced for the same crime in state court. Federal prosecutors felt his sentence in state court was too lenient, so they proceeded with a federal case against him.

Thursday, Kerber, 48, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball to serve a total of 108 months in prison, with credit for six months that he spent in custody in the state case. The sentence was less than the 120 months prosecutors sought, but more than the 80 months that his defense attorneys wanted.

In 2008, the Utah Attorney General's Office dropped eight charges against Kerber in exchange for his plea to two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony. Third District Judge Rodney S. Page suspended a pair of one-to-15-year prison terms in favor of probation and a year in jail, allowing Kerber to leave during the day to go to work.

After the sentence was imposed, the Utah Attorney General's Office approached federal prosecutors about pursuing a case.

Federal prosecutor Trina Higgins explained Thursday why her office went to the effort of securing approval to try the case in federal court as such requests are "rarely requested and rarely approved." She said Kerber not only had an "extensive and gruesome" pornography collection, but also an intent to engage in sexual conduct with children. She said this last point couldn't have been realized by the state court because it was later made available by way of new technology that allowed investigators full access to Kerber's e-mails.

She said the e-mails show Kerber had back and forth e-mail conversations with other like-minded individuals that indicated he was planning to rape children and that he was attempting to groom his own granddaughters for sexual relationships. That new information made Kerber's state sentence too lenient, Higgins said.

Kerber's defense attorney John Williams said that Kerber's "hoping and planning" does not equal an act. Kerber apologized to the children he may have harmed and said he was attempting to get counseling and a job when he was re-arrested.

In addition to his 102 months of prison, Kerber was sentenced to a life of supervised release, which includes a provision that he will always have another adult present when he is around children under the age of 18. He faced a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 and supervised release for life. Kimball waived the fine as Kerber has no way of paying it.

e-mail: emorgan@desnews.com