Former South Lake Tahoe fire captain Mark Wyant is going to prison for 10 years for transportation of child pornography.

The 46-year-old pleaded guilty in December to the one count and on March 3 was sentenced.

Mark Wygant

A plea deal brought the original six charges involving sexual exploitation and attempted sexual exploitation of minors down to the one charge.

From early 2011 to early 2012, Wygant surreptitiously filmed a child on numerous occasions using a hidden cellphone and hidden “spy cameras” that he had purchased for that purpose, according to court records. He then transported those videos and photos from a location in Butte County to South Lake Tahoe. Wygant lived in Chico with his family and worked in Tahoe.

A flash drive was found in an unassigned locker at a city fire station containing more than 5,000 images of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct and more than 50 video files depicting child pornography, according to court records.

Wygant has been in custody since his arrest on Jan. 29, 2015. He resigned from the fire department the next month.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report