CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) — Former Woodbrook Elementary School fifth grade teacher Nicholas J. Clark appeared in Albemarle General District Court for the first time Thursday morning after being arrested on child pornography charges last week.

During the bond hearing, defense attorney Alexander Goodman requested Clark be released to his mother and stepfather on home electronic incarceration, but Judge Matthew Quatrara denied the request, saying Clark’s past “indicates the behavior of an addict.”

In his defense, Clark’s mother, Susan Clark Mirra, and stepfather, David Mirra, testified in the hope they could convince the judge it was safe to release Clark to them. The two told the judge they lived in a remote neighborhood where Clark would be away from children, and they had already put passwords on all of their devices in the anticipation of his release.

Susan, a retired special education teacher, and David, a retired Marine Corp Officer and technology officer for Stafford County Public Schools, said they planned to keep Nicholas on a strict schedule, with 6-8 hours of manual labor on their 13 wooded acres of land, the same lights-out time as the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail where he’s being held and he would be isolated to his bedroom. If he were to violate any of the terms set by the court, David said he and his wife would race to the phone to see who would be the first to report him.

“We’re not fooling around here,” he said.

Aside from his parents, a sizable group of members of Clark’s church as well as one of his two brothers and sister-in-law were in attendance to support him, which Quatrara later said was unusual to see in these types of trials. Goodman also submitted a dozen letters from friends and family to the court.

While Quatrara read the letters, Clark was visibly distraught, silently weeping in the courtroom.

Clark faces felony counts of both possessing and distributing child pornography. A search warrant obtained by Cville Right Now showed Clark had uploaded two pornographic videos and 12 images that appear to show an underage girl.

Following the warrant on his Reservoir Ridge Rd. residence was executed on Monday, Clark was removed from his classroom and questioned by police. Prosecutor W. Lawton Tufts told the court Clark was honest and cooperative from the beginning with law enforcement. The defense hoped his cooperation, lack of a criminal record and testimony from loved ones would be enough to warrant release to his parents, but it was not.

The prosecution argued that releasing Clark could be a risk to the community. He said the investigation is still ongoing and that other discoveries could be made on his device. Furthermore, Clark’s history showed multiple points in which he could have stopped his behavior but did not. Clark had downloaded the images and photos from the messaging app Discord, and the platform had banned him twice for doing so, with Clark simply making a new account each time.

Tufts also described one instance in which Clark had been messaging and exchanging nude photos with who he thought was a 15-year-old girl. The person he was messaging later turned out to be an adult overseas, who blackmailed him by threatening to inform Woodbrook about his behavior. Quatrara agreed with Tufts assessment of these events, characterizing them as “near misses” that should’ve prompted him to self-intervention.

Quatrara ruled Clark will stay incarcerated until his preliminary trial date on April 23 at 10:30 a.m. Clark does have the option to appeal the decision to the circuit court if he so chooses.