Man caught with child porn sentenced to 3 years in prison

A 40-year-old Port Washington man arrested on child pornography charges in 2020 after authorities received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children was sentenced to three years in prison during a Sept. 14 hearing in Ozaukee County Circuit Court.

Judge Paul Malloy also sentenced Joshua W. Clark to five years of extended supervision following his incarceration.

Clark pleaded guilty in March to one count of possession of child pornography. Two additional charges were dismissed as part of a plea agreement but read into the record, which means that Malloy could consider them when sentencing him.

Clark was charged in November 2020 after authorities were informed that a pornographic GIF — an image file that plays in a loop — depicting a girl between the ages of 12 and 14 was uploaded to a Tumblr account linked to Clark’s email address, according to the criminal complaint. 

On Nov. 4, 2020, authorities searched Clark’s house and found about 15 child porn videos on his cell phone, the complaint states.

Two of those videos showed girls, one believed to between the ages of 7 and 9, the other 6 to 7, being sexually assaulted by men, according to the complaint.

Clark, who had been free in lieu of $10,000 bail while his case was pending, was remanded into custody after pleading guilty on March 22.

As conditions of his extended supervision, Malloy ordered Clark to comply with sex offender registry requirements for 15 years, participate in sex offender treatment and have no unsupervised contact with people younger than 18.

Still at issue in the case is whether Clark must pay restitution to the nine victims of child pornography who have requested it.

The same agency that provided the tip that lead to Clark’s arrest — the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children — maintains a database of known child pornography victims, and when images and videos recovered in child pornography cases match people on that database, they are notified and given the opportunity to seek restitution.

Clark, however, is objecting to the requests in his case, questioning whether the amounts sought are permissible under the law and whether there is a “causal nexus,” as the law requires, between the victims’ losses and Clark’s possession of the videos of them.

A restitution hearing has been scheduled for Nov. 16.