A former Clifton Central High School agriculture teacher has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Brett Sorensen, 38, of Paxton, was arrested in September 2024 and charged with eight counts of possessing and or disseminating child sexual abuse images.

He was sentenced for two of those counts, earning consecutive sentences of 10 years and then an additional 15 years. The other six counts were dismissed.

Sorensen will be credited with 499 days time served. He was arrested on Sept. 17, 2024, at his home by the Illinois State Police Division of Criminal Investigation agents following an almost four-month-long investigation into the dissemination of child sexual abuse materials.

Andrew Killian, the Ford County state’s attorney, said Sorensen’s demand for such videos creates the supply, and that makes him a danger to the community.

The first five counts all took place around May 26-30, 2024. He was charged with the intent to disseminate, disseminated a videotape of a child who he could have reasonably known was under age 13 in a sexual act. Counts six, seven, and eight were all for possession of a visual representation of a child engaging in sexual acts, class 2 felonies punishable by three to seven years in prison.

Sorensen started teaching in the district during the 2011-12 school year.