POCATELLO — A Pocatello man who showed up at a local hotel to have sex with who he believed was a 13-year-old girl was sentenced Wednesday to 11 years in federal prison after investigators searching his phone uncovered more than 52,000 images of child sexual abuse material.

U.S. District Judge David C. Nye sentenced Clint Layne Lusk, 34, to 135 months in federal prison for receiving child pornography. Nye also ordered Lusk to pay $45,000 in restitution and to serve 15 years of supervised release after his release from prison. Lusk must register as a sex offender. Lusk pleaded guilty to the federal child porn charge on Oct. 21, 2025.

Lusk was one of three men arrested on Nov. 7, 2024, during a one-night undercover operation in Pocatello conducted by the Idaho Office of the Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the Pocatello Police Department and the FBI. The operation targeted adults seeking to sexually exploit children through messaging apps and social media platforms, the AG’s office said in Wednesday’s news release.

According to federal court records, an undercover FBI Task Force officer used a decoy to pose as a 13-year-old girl on the messaging application Whisper by posting a photograph of a female FBI decoy.

Lusk, using the screen name “Anon,” initiated contact with the undercover officer and quickly steered the conversation in a sexual direction, asking whether the decoy was on birth control and explicitly proposing sexual acts. When the undercover officer disclosed being 13 years old, Lusk did not disengage. He instead proposed a meeting and drove to the Red Lion Hotel in Pocatello, the location officers had arranged, where he was arrested upon arrival.

According to Webwise, Whisper is an anonymous social networking app dubbed as a cross between Twitter and Snapchat where users can share intimate secrets without the risk of their personal identity being damaged or put at risk by the secret. It involves users posting confessions or statements, either fact or fiction, by superimposing text on a picture.

After his arrest, investigators obtained a search warrant for Lusk’s iPhone 16 Pro Max. A hand search of the device that night revealed multiple nude images of females appearing to be under 18, as well as footage investigators believed depicted women unaware they were being filmed in what appeared to be a residential bathroom, with the camera placed near the ceiling or inside a vent. Investigators paused the search and obtained an expanded warrant to cover video voyeurism.

A full forensic review of the phone uncovered 52,543 images of child sexual abuse material. Investigators also recovered voyeurism videos depicting at least three separate adult women filmed without their knowledge while nude in a bathroom.

The Idaho Attorney General’s Office prosecuted Lusk separately on the voyeurism charge.

Lusk reached a plea agreement with prosecutors in the state case in August 2025 where he agreed to plead guilty to one count of video voyeurism. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to dismiss a second voyeurism count, an enticement count stemming from the same undercover operation and 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a child that were filed following the forensic search of his devices. The state retained the right to argue all conduct at sentencing and all parties are free to present sentencing recommendations freely, the plea agreement states.

Judge Nye ordered Lusk’s 135-month federal sentence to run consecutively to any sentence imposed in the state voyeurism case, of which Lusk is set to appear in front of 6th District Judge Rick Carnaroli for sentencing on Monday.

U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis commended the work of the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, the ICAC Task Force and the Pocatello Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Paskett prosecuted the federal case.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative launched in May 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho and the Idaho Attorney General’s Office partner under the program to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet and to identify and rescue victims.

The November 2024 operation that led to Lusk’s arrest involved officers, attorneys and support personnel from more than a dozen agencies statewide, including the Idaho State Police, the Bannock County Sheriff’s Office, the Boise Police Department, the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office and agencies from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho Falls, Madison County, Bonneville County, Nampa, Rupert and Post Falls.ac

Anyone with information regarding the exploitation of children is encouraged to contact local police, the Idaho Attorney General’s ICAC Unit at 208-947-8700, or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678.