A sex offender caught with child pornography in a South Jersey prison was previously ensnared in an online sting by an FBI agent posing as a 13-year-old boy, court records show.

As reported by the Courier| Brian J. McKay, 47, was sentenced Monday to an additional 13 years and three months for possession of child pornography at Federal Correctional Institute Fort Dix, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Jersey.

The Philadelphia-area man was serving a 15-year term at FCI Fort Dix for possession and distribution of child pornography. His record of sex offenses dates to 1997, according to a court record.

“McKay has trouble controlling himself and his sexual urges,” an FBI agent wrote after interviewing him in 2008

Authorities said McKay a decade ago sent sexually explicit messages and child pornography to an investigator posing as a boy in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.McKay – then a 37-year-old tow truck driver living in his parents’ home – directed the “boy” to record sex acts with a young friend in exchange for additional pornographic videos, said a criminal complaint.

As part of the sting, the FBI agent posted photos from his own childhood, including one that showed him in a wrestling singlet, the complaint said.

The FBI also sent 10 images to McKay with titles suggesting they showed sexual activity between the 13-year-old and his friend. But the images were encrypted so they could not be opened despite McKay’s repeated efforts, the complaint said.

“I wish I could c them,” McKay told the “boy” in an online message during a May 2008 chat, according to the complaint.

An FBI raid later that month found more than 200 videos and 600 images of child pornography on a laptop and a thumb drive in McKay’s home in Brookhaven, Delaware County, the complaint said.

At the time of his 2008 arrest, McKay was a registered sex offender in Pennsylvania and Delaware. He also was serving a two-year probationary term imposed after local investigators found more than 500 images of child pornography on his computer.

McKay was not allowed to have a computer under terms of his probation, the complaint noted.

It said McKay also was arrested in 1997 for driving in his car and engaging in sex acts in front of teenaged boys.

McKay’s federal term had been set to end in June 2021.

But he was among eight FCI inmates who allegedly took part in a child porn ring at FCI Fort Dix, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

It said McKay admitted to possessing digital storage cards with almost 640 videos and 600 images of child pornography, including depictions of “sadistic and masochistic sexual conduct involving infants and toddlers.”

McKay also admitted he distributed child pornography to another inmate, at a hearing earlier this year before U.S. District Judge Joseph Rodriguez in Camden. Rodriguez sentenced McKay on Monday.

The inmates were charged in April 2017 and February 2018 after an FBI investigation showed they allegedly used contraband cellphones, storage cards and Internet access to view and distribute child pornography inside the prison.

One ring member allegedly maintained cloud accounts to store child pornography, authorities said.

Six other ring members, all imprisoned for child porn offenses, have pleaded guilty to taking part in the ring, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Two of those inmates have been sentenced.

The eighth inmate, 52-year-old William Noble of Lowell, Massachusetts, awaits trial.

Read more: Courier Post