A Louisville man has been arrested on one count of child exploitation that has all of Winston County buzzing.
According to the Attorney General’s office, Robert Clark was arrested at his home on one count of child exploitation. But, that’s all the AG’s office is saying.
MaryAsa Lee, Communications Director for the Attorney General stated in an email: “The Attorney General’s Office made an arrest earlier this month of Robert Clark on one count of child exploitation, but beyond that, this is an active investigation, and we don’t comment on active investigations.”
Sheriff Mike Perkins said the Winston County Sheriff’s Department assisted with the execution of the search warrant, but it is not their case. Clark was arrested and given a $5,000 bond by a Justice Court Judge and has a preliminary hearing set. But, that was all he could say because that part is public record. Anything beyond that, it is not the Winston County Sheriff’s Department case and they cannot say anything about it.
An agency may hear about a case, but if it is not the investigating agency, it can’t be the reporting agency. For example, the Sheriff’s Department may hear of a City of Louisville case but because the Sheriff’s Department is not the investigating agency, they can’t be the reporting agency and vice versa.
Because there’s not much out about this case, questions have been circulating as to what actually took place earlier this month. The biggest one is: Why is there nothing out about it?
There have been comments circulating Facebook stating there’s nothing out about it because of the man’s race – Clark is a caucasian man – or stating this may be hidden for various reasons because things can be hidden in Louisville, none of which on the Journal’s behalf are true.
The Journal was notified about the case but chose to cautiously proceed with what we reported because of the nature of this case and because a local agency is not handling it. Anything put out too soon could be detrimental to the Attorney General's office case and could violate Clark’s Fifth Amendment. Clark is innocent until proven guilty in court.
The Journal will continue to find out what we can about this case and report on what we can, as much as we can.
