A 30-year-old Lone Rock man is facing three counts of possession of child pornography following a December 2021 arrest as well as one count of First Degree Repeated Sexual Assault of the Same Child from a January arrest. 

Court documents filed earlier this month show Joseph Huddleston faces three counts of possession of child pornography. If convicted of these changes Huddleston could be fined not more than $100,000 or imprisoned for not more than 25 years, or both. Additionally, if convicted the court could impose a $500 charge for each image or copy of an image.

According to court records, Huddleston was seen in court in early January 2022 on sexual assault charges where a signature bond was requested. However, the court ordered a $50,000 cash bond with no contact with the victim, victim’s mother, victim’s father and their residence. 

The workings of the case through the Richland County Court slowed until the beginning of June of this year, when it was announced at a status conference that the public defenders office was working on getting council for him, as his previous public defender, now Judge Lisa McDougal was transitioning towards her newly appointed position.  Judge Margaret M. Koehler was assigned to be the judge on the case on July 14, to avoid conflict of interest with Judge McDougal. 

According to the criminal complaint issued by the Richland County Circuit Court  that was filed July 18 of this year, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department began an investigation into Huddleston on December 31,2021 for having sexual intercourse with a 10-year-old victim. 

Days later, on January 2, 2022, as part of a multi-state investigation, a Sergeant with the Nebraska State Patrol made contact with Huddleston about the sexual assault allegations. According to the criminal complaint, Huddleston had admitted about continued sexual contact with the victim for the past four to five years. 

As part of this investigation, the Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) investigated several items, including a laptop, hard drive from a computer tower and Huddleston’s cellphone, all of which were determined to have numerous items of  child pornography, according to the criminal complaint. 

According to court records, Huddleston is due in Richland County Court on October 31, 2022 at 11 a.m. for an initial appearance.