Vancouver man accused of child porn possession

A Vancouver sex offender pleaded not guilty in Clark County Superior Court on Tuesday to possessing child pornography.

Joshua E. James, 40, was arrested Monday on a warrant for suspicion of three counts of first-degree possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct and seven counts of second-degree possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Judge Gregory Gonzales held James in the Clark County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail and appointed Vancouver attorney Jeff Staples to defend him. His trial is scheduled for Feb. 25.

Vancouver police began investigating James in October 2013 when the Department of Corrections notified them that James, who is a Level 2 sex offender, had been having contact with a toddler-aged boy, which is prohibited by the conditions of his supervision, according to court papers.

Officers seized James’ cellphone to investigate whether he had violated his conditions. Investigators analyzed the phone in order to recover deleted data and found 43 images showing sexual abuse of children, Vancouver police Detective David Brown wrote in a probable cause affidavit.

Some of the images showed girls younger than 5 years old engaged in sexually explicit conduct, Brown wrote. Other photos depicted girls between the ages of 5 and 12, he wrote.