A man living at Centrepoint on Auckland's North Shore has admitted downloading child porn off the internet.

30-year-old Stefan Schmid was arrested at the commune, north of Auckland, last year where he had downloaded the pictures onto a computer to which children had access. He was sentenced to seven month's periodic detention and ordered to pay $500 in costs on 37 charges relating to the child porn.

But the sentencing is being criticised as too lenient by a group pushing to have Centrepoint closed down.

Barri Leslie, an anti-Centrepoint member, says Schmid grew up on the commune and it is tragic to now see the second generation offending.

Schmid joins a list of people living at Centrepoint, including its leader Bert Potter, who have been convicted of sex charges in the past decade.

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