A Vancouver man who possessed thousands of images of child pornography on his tablet computer was sentenced Tuesday in Clark County Superior Court to more than four years in prison.
Brian K. Schofield, 34, pleaded guilty in October to three counts of first-degree possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Investigators discovered at least 8,000 images of child pornography on Schofield’s tablet, and a second device was seized. Vancouver police estimated the ages of the victims to be between 5 and 12 years old, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children received information Aug. 9 from Google that one of its users was uploading suspected child pornography. Data from the account was eventually traced back to Schofield and his Vancouver residence, the affidavit states.
Detectives with the Vancouver Police Department’s Digital Evidence Cybercrime Unit served a search warrant at his residence Sept. 20 in the 6000 block of Northeast 10th Avenue. Schofield wasn’t home, however, according to court documents. He was later found at Friends of the Carpenter, a nonprofit, faith-based facility, where he worked.
During their search, investigators recovered a tablet in the process of downloading child pornography, and an initial screen of the device found thousands of images of suspected child pornography, court records said.
In an interview with detectives, Schofield estimated that he had 10,000 to 20,000 images of child pornography on his devices, according to the affidavit.
He was sentenced to a total of 53 months in prison and 36 months of community custody. He must register as a sex offender and is not to have contact with minors.
