Metro

A registered sex offender is back behind bars facing additional child pornography charges following a yearslong investigation by the FBI into several cybertips from social media platforms that led to the seizure and search of his electronic devices.

Saxton resident Daniel Evan Clark, 38, was arraigned Friday by Magisterial District Judge Brian K. Baker on 15 felony counts of child pornography and a felony count of criminal use of a communication facility. He was remanded to the Bedford County Correctional Facility in lieu of $500,000 bail.

On Aug. 3, 2021, agents received a cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children stating that a file of child sexual abuse material was uploaded to Instagram on July 6, 2021, by a user whose email address was later linked to Clark. Agents confirmed the file depicted a female child engaged in sexually explicit acts. It was also noted that the verified recovery phone number for that email address was the same phone number associated with another case, in which Clark allegedly uploaded two files of child sexual abuse material, according to the affidavit of probable cause.

Another cybertip from Snapchat on July 6 reported three files of abuse material were also uploaded to their platform. When agents searched PennDOT records for Clark’s name, an address for a residence along the 900 block of Mifflin Street in Saxton, Bedford County, was returned. Further investigation throughout 2022 showed that the IP address associated with the social media accounts matched those registered to the Saxton address, the police report states.

On Sept. 14, 2022, agents received two additional cybertips, one of which stated that Clark was a registered sex offender in Pennsylvania. The second cybertip came from Yahoo and stated that two files of child sexual abuse materials were uploaded to its email server on Sept. 8, 2022. The user of the Yahoo email account matched the user of the Snapchat and Instagram accounts, the report states.

On Feb. 24, 2023, officers executed a search warrant for illegal internet activity on the Mifflin Street residence. In an interview at the residence, Clark gave officers his phone number and email address, which matched those associated with the accounts mentioned in the cybertips. When asked for the passcode to his iPhone, Clark told officers he was not willing to provide that to agents, the report states.

Officers told Clark they had a search warrant for the residence regarding illegal internet activity and asked Clark if he knew what they were talking about, to which Clark said “I do, yeah. If you know, I’ve had a history with that.” Clark said he was previously incarcerated for child porn, according to the affidavit.

Officers told Clark that computer forensics were going to examine all of the electronic devices in the residence and asked if they were going to find the accounts or child porn on his devices, to which Clark said no. Clark told officers if he said anything it would ruin everything he’s worked for. Officers then seized two Apple iPhones from Clark’s bedroom, the report states.

According to the affidavit, forensic results showed that 15 files of child porn were located on the devices.

Clark is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in front of Baker on Wednesday.