A former local youth football coach initially arrested on suspicion of child pornography charges now faces additional charges of child sexual abuse.
Nicolas Aaron Clark, 40, appeared in Clark County Superior Court Wednesday on suspicion of first-degree child rape and sexual exploitation of a minor.
Detectives working on Clark’s pending child pornography case found video and images of Clark abusing a child, according to court records.
Clark knew the victim, according to court records. The victim was not one of his players.
Clark was a coach with Clark County Youth Football. When Clark was first arrested on child pornography charges in October, league president Terry Hyde told The Columbian Clark coached fourth- and fifth-graders.
Hyde said the league conducts a background check for every hire, and that Clark was removed from the league once it learned of the allegations.
Prosecutors said Wednesday the new charges will likely be rolled in with Clark’s pending child pornography case.
Clark appeared in court in October on suspicion of three counts of first-degree possessing depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct and a single count of second-degree possessing depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
He was arrested after authorities received word over the summer about a user on Tumblr, a blogging and social media networking site, who was sharing child pornography, according to court records.
Police traced site account data to Clark’s home in Camas and his cellphone.
Earlier court records misspelled his first name as Nicholas.
In light of the new charges, Superior Court Judge Robert Lewis agreed to increase Clark’s bail amount to $200,000. His next court date, a hearing about adding the new charges, was scheduled for Dec. 19.
