BELMONT COUNTY, Ohio — A 42-year-old convicted sex offender from eastern Ohio was sentenced to prison on Tuesday after pleading guilty to distributing and receiving child pornography.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio said Joshua Green, of Belmont County, will spend 15 years behind bars.
Authorities said Green was under investigation after he distributed images of himself to an undercover FBI agent posing as a 12-year-old girl.
In September 2021, Green admitted to engaging in conversations through an online messenger app with the purported 12-year-old girl and distributed sexually explicit images of himself along with pictures of his face. The attorney's office said the images led to Green's identification as a registered sex offender.
As the investigation continued, authorities found Green also distributed child sexual abuse material in January and February 2022 through the mobile app Kik.
A search warrant was executed at Green's residence and numerous digital media devices were seized which contained additional evidence of child exploitation.
Green pleaded guilty on Dec. 1, 2022, to distributing and receiving child pornography after being convicted of an offense relating to the sexual abuse of a minor.
His prior conviction stemmed from a 2014 case in Belmont County in which he pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and pandering obscenity involving a minor.
Green will spend his 15 years in a prison facility that provides sexual offender treatment and serve 20 years under court supervision after completing his prison sentence.
