A federal judge sentenced a 25-year-old former salesclerk at the Disney Store to 21 years and 10 months in prison for taking a nude picture of an 8-year-old boy and posting it on the Internet.

Kaulana Hirakawa pleaded guilty to a single production of child pornography charge in August in exchange for the government dropping four other child pornography charges.

The boy's mother said in court yesterday that Hirakawa took away her son's innocence and put it out for everyone to see.

“;He will never be the same child he was,”; she said.

The mother said her son, now 12, has nightmares and is violent, self-destructive and self-mutilating. She said she and her son have been ostracized by relatives because they blame her for trusting Hirakawa.

After he completes the 262-month prison term, Hirakawa will be on federal probation for the rest of his life because, said U.S. District Court Judge Helen Gillmor, “;You are a danger to the community.”;

Much of that probation could be spent in state custody because Hirakawa is facing sexual assault charges in state court involving the same boy, who was 10 at the time of the alleged assaults, and two other boys, who were 6 and 13 when Hirakawa allegedly assaulted them.

Hirakawa was scheduled to plead guilty to the state charges today.

Pamela Byrne, his lawyer in the federal case, said Hirakawa will serve whatever state prison sentence he receives after he completes his federal sentence.

Honolulu police initiated a sexual assault investigation of Hirakawa in January 2007 after the mother who was in federal court yesterday found Hirakawa's digital camera containing child pornography in the family car, according to federal court documents.

Police said Hirakawa admitted sexually assaulting all three boys on separate occasions.

When Honolulu police searched Hirakawa's home, they said, they found 500 pictures of child pornography involving boys as young as 5.