PORTLAND – A former Sabattus Elementary schoolteacher was sentenced to two years in federal prison Thursday on a charge of possessing child pornography.

Robert O. Caron, 59, of Sabattus was also ordered to pay a $5,000 fine after he was found guilty of keeping lewd pictures of kids on his home computer.

Prosecutors say they were tipped off to Caron’s possession of child porn in January 2003 after he took his computer to a Lewiston repair shop.

Investigators said a technician noticed photographs of naked children on Caron’s hard drive as he worked on the machine. The technician then called Lewiston police and was put in contact with the Maine Computer Crimes Task Force.

Police seized Caron’s computer and 27 disks with images of children engaged in sex acts, investigators said.

Caron initially pleaded innocent but was later convicted on a sole count of possession of child pornography.

The case was prosecuted in U.S. District Court in Portland because some of the photographs were likely obtained over the Internet, investigators said.

After his release from prison, Caron will be ordered to serve three years of federal probation.