KNOXVILLE— A former Knox County Criminal Court employee was arrested Wednesday on charges of sexual exploitation of a minor.

Joshua Ryan Fettig, 20, of Knoxville was arrested at his residence without incident, according to Knoxville Police Department spokesman Darrell DeBusk.

Investigators with the KPD’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force arrested Fettig about 10 a.m. on three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and 10 counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor.

The investigation began last December after the task received multiple tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in Alexandra, Va.

The tips provided by an Electronic Service Provider (ESP) indicated someone had attempted to send images of child pornography via their email account, according to DeBusk.

Fettig worked as a night clerk in the judicial commissioner’s office as a member of the staff of Criminal Court Clerk Joy McCroskey at the time the probe was initiated. The night clerk is responsible for inputting information into the computer on warrants issued by judicial commissioners.

A search warrant for Fettig’s residence was executed in January. The task force also seized the computer Fettig used in his job as night clerk. DeBusk did not say whether images of child pornography were found on that particular computer. He said a forensic examination of “confiscated computers” revealed 356 images of child pornography.