A federal appeals court has rejected the appeal of a man sentenced to 30 years in prison in a child sex case that prosecutors said involved about 1 million computer images of pornography.

Steven Cartier of Oberon pleaded guilty in April last year but reserved the right to appeal U.S. District Judge Rodney Webb's ruling on evidence in the case.

Cartier was sentenced on 11 counts, including sexually exploiting a child under 12 to produce a video, possession of child pornography and making false statements to the FBI.

His appeal focused on the search of his home. He argued that authorities failed to justify a search warrant and said the evidence should be suppressed. He also said he was not advised of his rights before giving a statement to authorities.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected those arguments.

"When Cartier made his statement, he was in his own living room," the panel's ruling said Friday. "After giving his statement, Cartier left his home and drove his own vehicle back to his place of employment in order to give his work computer to the agents.

"Furthermore, the totality of the circumstances establishes that Cartier's freedom was not restrained as if he were formally under arrest, and he had no reasonable basis to feel that he was so restrained," the appeals court ruling said.

Cartier, a former emergency medical services manager, was arrested in May 2006, after an investigation that began with a tip from police in Spain. Authorities tracked payments to an Internet address in Oberon.

Prosecutors said last year that authorities had found about 1 million images and 4,000 videos of child pornography in Cartier's possession.