A Columbia man pleaded guilty Monday to possession of child pornography, according to the Boone County Sheriff’s Department’s Cyber Crimes Task Force.

Child pornography was found on 53-year-old Joseph L. Clark’s computer when he was getting it repaired at a local computer repair business last year. The business then contacted the sheriff’s department. Task force coordinator Andy Anderson said hundreds of images were found.

The pornography involved children thought to be as young as 4 to 7 years old, according to a news release.

On April 12, 2011, the Cyber Crimes Task Force served a court-ordered search warrant at Clark’s residence on Bethel Lane and seized two additional computers along with other evidence. The suspect was arrested on suspicion of possession of child pornography.

Repair companies have found child pornography in previous cases, but the majority of cases happen in other ways, Anderson said.

“We had a case where we had a cleaning service at a person’s house and bumped into a computer and found child pornography,” he said. “So we actually get reports in a variety of different ways.”

Plea bargains such as Clark’s have become more common in the last few years than when the task force initially began, Anderson said. One reason for this is that defense attorneys have learned if the task force brings plea bargains to court, they have solid cases.

“We have the philosophy, ‘It’s just as important to prove that somebody is not responsible as it is to prove someone is responsible,'” Anderson said. “For the most part, with some exceptions, the evidence in these cases tends to be pretty overwhelming. The evidence is typically right there if it’s a situation where access to the computer was restricted to one or two people. It makes it a lot easier to figure out who’s responsible for it.”

Final sentencing for Clark is scheduled for June 18.