Cincinnati Man Sentenced for Distribution of Child Pornography

COVINGTON, Ky. – A Cincinnati man, Joshua Robert Flick, 35, was sentenced on Thursday, by U.S. District Judge David Bunning, to 15 years in prison, for distribution of child pornography.

According to his plea agreement, on December 1, 2022, Flick communicated with a covert law enforcement employee, via the Kik application on his iPhone, and indicated that he was sexually interested in minors.  On two additional occasions, on December 9, 2022, and December 11, 2022, Flick communicated with the covert employee and sent multiple visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.  Flick admitted that he knowingly distributed the images, and he knew those images depicted minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Flick was arrested on an outstanding warrant on January 11, 2023, and his phone was searched.  The search revealed over 70 images and approximately 90 videos depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Under federal law, Flick must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence.  Upon his release from prison, he will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for 15 years.

Carlton S. Shier, IV, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Michael E. Stansbury, Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Louisville Field Office, jointly announced the sentence.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Spievack is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted this case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet as well as to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

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