FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. – A Flagler County man was sentenced Wednesday after being accused of possessing child pornography and attempting to purchase a child online for sex.
30-year-old Joseph Blackwell faced 20 counts of possession of child pornography and one count of soliciting the custodian of a child for unlawful sexual conduct.
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Blackwell was arrested on Nov. 4, 2022, from his home in Bunnell after a more than year-long investigation by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office found several devices in Blackwell’s home containing child pornography, as well as an email conversation between him and an unidentified man where Blackwell was attempting to purchase a child from the man for sexual purposes.
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Deputies said that the transaction never actually occurred, and it is unclear if the girl Blackwell was attempting to purchase was ever with the man.
Blackwell has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, to be followed by an additional 12 years of probation.
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