A former Fort Liberty, North Carolina, master sergeant was sentenced to 76 years in prison Friday for distributing child pornography, according to U.S. Attorney Michael Easley’s office.

U.S. District Judge Louise W. Flanagan, who presided over the sentencing, also sentenced Joshua Robert George Glardon to a lifetime of supervision if he is ever released.

Glardon, 41, was investigated by the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation in July 2021 for child exploitation offenses, according to court documents and other information presented in court.

He previously served as a first sergeant with the 4th Psychological Operations Group at Fort Bragg, which is now redesignated as Fort Liberty.

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It is not clear when he left the military installation, but a LinkedIn page stated that Glardon started working as a military science instructor at Appalachian State University under the U.S. Army Cadet Command in April 2021, and he was arrested at the university.

Federal charges

According to federal court records, Glardon pleaded guilty to four counts of distributing child pornography, while another seven counts of distributing child pornography and one count of receiving child pornography were dismissed.

According to the news release, the investigation began when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received three CyberTips from Kik social media that one of its users had uploaded child sexual abuse material on multiple days.

The internet provider address used to upload the images belonged to Joshua Glardon when he lived in Fayetteville, the news release stated.

Two of the images in the CyberTip appeared to be homemade images, and once a search warrant was executed to seize Glardon’s digital devices, a forensic analysis revealed “thousands of images of child sexual abuse material on his phone,” and images of the child who appeared in the CyberTips images, the news release stated.

Law enforcement officers were able to identify the child through chat messages Glardon had with a Fayetteville woman.

The Fayetteville Observer is withholding her name to protect the identity of the child.

Law enforcement officials searched the woman’s house, and during an interview, the woman allegedly “confessed to allowing Glardon to rape” the child.

“She admitted she would take images and videos of the child, including videos of her performing sexual acts on the child, and send them to Glardon,” the news release stated.

The woman pleaded guilty in January to the production of child pornography. She was given the maximum sentence of 30 years in prison when she appeared in federal court in Wilmington on June 7. If released, she will be on lifetime supervision. She was also ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution to the victim.

According to the news release, a forensic analysis of the woman’s digital devices revealed chat conversations between her and Glardon discussing the sexual abuse of the child.

“Glardon would then distribute the child’s images over the internet where he encouraged others to further share the images,” the release stated.

Law enforcement located nearly 50 conversations of Glardon sharing the child’s image and encouraging others “to fantasize about brutally raping the child,” the release stated.

Pending Cumberland County change

A first-degree statutory sex offense of a minor charge for Glardon is pending in Cumberland County.

Glardon was indicted Nov. 29 in Cumberland County’s Superior Court on first-degree statutory sexual offense, according to court records.

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Cumberland County court records state that the woman told investigators that at one point, Glardon visited her home in Fayetteville and was left alone with the child.

The woman told authorities that when she returned, Glardon allegedly told her he engaged in a sexual act with the girl on the floor inside the residence, Cumberland County court documents state.

The woman said during another encounter she had oral sex with Glardon while the girl was present and alleged the girl was brought into the activity, court records state.

The woman told authorities she left the bedroom and left Glardon and the girl together and believed he engaged in sexual acts with the girl. The woman further told authorities that she took photos of the girl “in different stages of dress,” and with her genitals exposed and sent them to Glardon at his request, according to court records.

According to court records, authorities in addition to search warrants for Glardon’s electronic devices, work office and home, sex toys were also seized after the woman told authorities they were used by Glardon to create a video with the girl.

According to court records, after local and state authorities notified the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command about their probe into Glardon, they received a report from 2012 that alleged Glardon had an extramarital affair with another woman, and that woman reported that Glardon allegedly asked her for inappropriate photos of an underage girl and told the woman he wanted to have sex with the girl.

The outcome of that investigation was not immediately available.

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