Nassau County Man Pleads Guilty to Transporting Child Pornography

Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that Nicholas Mitko Clark (22, Yulee) has pleaded guilty to transporting child pornography. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years, up to 20 years, in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

According to the plea agreement, in April 2013, Clark used an instant messaging service to chat with an individual in Canada, with whom he exchanged child pornography. During the chat, Clark requested that the individual send him child pornography and advised that he likes children between the ages of and 8 and 13. After receiving an image depicting a young child, Clark responded that he already had that file and requested another one. Clark and the individual proceeded to exchange additional files of child pornography. Through their investigation, law enforcement agents obtained Clark’s cellphone and recovered several additional images of child pornography.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations and the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, with assistance from the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kelly S. Karase.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.