Clement

A Tyler man who was found with 3,500 files of child pornography on his phone was recently sentenced to 10 years in prison.

James Edward Clement, 38, made a guilty plea on Friday in the 114th District Court for the possession of child pornography charge.

He was arrested on July 9 last year, and has remained in the Smith County Jail since. He will receive 198 days of jail credit.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, police received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children from Google. After an investigation into IP addresses to locate the source of the alleged child pornography possession, law enforcement located Clement at his girlfriend’s apartment.

When police spoke with Clement, he told them he would “never hurt a kid” and said he was a victim of child abuse. He became emotional when mentioning the abuse. Clement said his drug abuse had a lot to do with viewing child pornography and he spoke vaguely about viewing images while under the influence of methamphetamine, the affidavit stated.

Through forensic examination, police found thousands of images meeting the definition of child pornography on Clement’s cell phone, according to the document.

While on the phone with police, Clement said he was willing to take full responsibility for everything. He said no one knew about him viewing child pornography until the police came to his residence. Clement said he started viewing the child porn a couple years ago, the affidavit read.