Chippewa County Man Sentenced to 6 Years for Receiving Child Pornography

MADISON, WIS. - Chadwick M. Elgersma, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Joshua Dale Cline, 29, Jim Falls, Wisconsin, was sentenced last week by Chief U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson to 6 years in federal prison for receiving child pornography. The prison term will be followed by 15 years of supervised release. Cline was also ordered to pay $38,500 in restitution to the victims. Cline pleaded guilty to this crime on February 9, 2026.

On three occasions between November 2024 and January 2025, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received tips that Kik accounts associated with Cline were being used to send and receive child pornography. Additionally, on January 27, 2025, Cline sent images of child pornography to an undercover agent via Kik. Upon arrest, Cline admitted he had been using Kik to trade images of child pornography for over a year.

Judge Peterson noted the sentence accounted for aggravating factors including the extended time Cline was involved with trading child pornography, and the very young age of the victims. Judge Peterson emphasized that trading in such materials encourages the sexual abuse of children by creating a market for such images.

The charge against Cline was the result of an investigation conducted by Homeland Security Investigations in Milwaukee and Detroit and the Chippewa County Sheriff's Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Pfluger prosecuted this case.

This investigation was a part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.