Man sentenced to 6 years in prison for possession of child porn

A 27-year-old man who was caught with child pornography on his cellphone while being on parole for soliciting nude photos from a teenage girl was sentenced Friday to six years in prison.

James M. Bergstrom pleaded guilty Feb. 1 in Clark County Superior Court to three counts of first-degree possessing depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

A Washington State Department of Corrections community custody officer notified Vancouver police Sept. 6 that she seized and searched a phone belonging to Bergstrom, a registered sex offender, for violating conditions of his release, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Another officer said he witnessed Bergstrom remove a cellphone from the smoking station outside a DOC building. Bergstrom admitted to having the phone and handed it over when confronted by two officers, the affidavit says.

The officer who wrote the probable cause affidavit noted that they investigated a separate case in 2016 involving Bergstrom, in which he posed as a 15-year-old boy to solicit nude photos from a 14-year-old girl, according to the affidavit.

Police obtained a search warrant for Bergstrom’s phone, and a forensic analysis found it contained child pornography, including sexually explicit images of boys and girls as young as 8, the affidavit says.

On Friday, Judge Bernard Veljacic followed the attorneys’ previously agreed-upon sentence of 77 months in prison and 36 months of community custody. In addition to his sentence, Bergstrom must register as a sex offender, undergo treatment and not have contact with minors. He is also prohibited from using electronics.