The son of a former Winnipeg city councillor was sentenced yesterday to 2½ years in prison for internet luring and making child pornography.

Brock Golden, 27, pleaded guilty to the two charges last year.

In April 2005, Golden contacted three girls — two 14 years old, one 15 — in an online chat room, where he said he was looking for amateur models.

He later met the girls in the middle of the night at a Winnipeg hotel room. He paid two of the teens $500 each to pose nude and perform sex acts, taking more than 200 explicit photos.

Judge Ken Champagne noted Golden has been in therapy and that by pleading guilty he spared the girls from having to testify.

But the judge imposed a 30-month prison sentence, citing the seriousness of the offences.

"Is this not every parent's worst nightmare, to have your daughter sneaking out at 4 a.m. to meet some stranger she's met online?" Champagne asked.

Prior to his arrest, Golden's most public appearance was as campaign manager for his father Al Golden's bid to be Winnipeg's mayor.