A former youth pastor at a church in the Dallas suburb of Garland has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of receipt of child pornography.
U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldana says 30-year-old Joshua Earls was also sentenced to a lifetime of supervised release Wednesday. Earls had pleaded guilty in October.
The case's factual resume says Earls admitted establishing a relationship with a 16-year-old girl at his church. According to Garland police, Earls worked at Arapaho Baptist Church for about four years before he resigned in July of 2012.
Authorities seized several of Earls' computers, which had more than 600 images of child pornography, including images of the teen.
Earls admitted exchanging nude pictures and videos with her and possessing videos of her engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Earls' cell phone showed text messaging in which he asks her to send pornographic images of herself.
