A 36-year-old Gearhart man was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in federal prison followed by 10 years of supervised release after pleading guilty to sexual exploitation of children and possession of child sexual abuse material. Joseph Biamont used hidden cameras planted throughout his home, including inside a dummy smoke detector and behind a teddy bear, to secretly record a minor victim.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon, Biamont was sentenced in federal court in Portland on August 19. Federal prosecutors said Biamont possessed 71 videos depicting child sexual abuse material of the primary minor victim, along with additional files involving other minor victims and illicit recordings of an adult victim nude in a bathroom. As reported in the seed story shared by FBI Portland, the case was announced as a sentencing update tied to Biamont's convictions for sexual exploitation of children and possession of child sexual abuse material.
Hidden Cameras Found in Smoke Detector and Behind a Teddy Bear
The surveillance apparatus at the center of the case was uncovered after Gearhart police discovered a thumb drive in Biamont's possession containing videos of the minor victim recorded from hidden cameras. Per the Daily Astorian, the cameras were positioned in a dummy smoke detector above the victim's bed and behind a teddy bear, while a cell phone was also used to capture the minor showering, using the bathroom, and changing clothes.
The newspaper's report, drawn from the same case file, detailed how the recordings spanned some of the most private moments in the victim's daily routine. The scope of material recovered extended well beyond the primary victim, with federal prosecutors confirming that additional child sexual abuse material involving other minors was also found, along with the illicit recordings of an adult victim.
Case Traces Back to a 2011 Rape Charge That Was Dismissed
Oregon court records show Biamont had a prior brush with the criminal justice system over allegations involving a minor. According to KGW, Biamont was charged with the rape of a minor in June 2011, but Clatsop County prosecutors dismissed the case in February 2012 after the victim's therapist reported the child was unable to take the witness stand. That earlier state case never resulted in a conviction and is distinct from the federal charges to which Biamont has now pleaded guilty.
Local reporting from 2018 also placed Biamont in a caregiving role within the community. ClatsopNews identified him as an administrator at CK Community Supports LLC, a Clatsop County family-run service provider that assists children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
From Federal Indictment to Guilty Plea
The federal case moved through the courts over more than a year. A federal grand jury in Portland returned a six-count indictment against Biamont on May 6, 2025, leading to his arrest in Seaside, Oregon, nine days later on May 15, 2025, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Biamont entered a guilty plea on February 24, 2026, roughly six months before Wednesday's sentencing.
The investigation that built the case relied on cooperation between local and federal authorities. Investigators from the Gearhart Police Department, the Clatsop County Sheriff's Office, and the FBI worked jointly to build the case, the U.S. Attorney's Office said, illustrating how digital evidence uncovered by a small coastal police department escalated into a federal prosecution.
Part of a Broader Federal Crackdown
Biamont's prosecution fell under Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide Department of Justice initiative created in May 2006 to coordinate federal, state, and local law enforcement resources in detecting and prosecuting child sexual exploitation. On the same day Biamont was sentenced, federal prosecutors in Oregon separately announced the sentencing of a 62-year-old Albany man to 102 months in prison for attempting to receive child sexual abuse material, underscoring active enforcement efforts against child exploitation across multiple parts of the state this week.
