An Arkansas local judge resigned Monday following an ethics commission inquiry that concluded he had traded sex for reduced sentences and stored pictures of nude defendants on his home computer. The commission alleged he also housed child porn on that computer.

Cross County District Judge Joseph Boeckmann's resignation comes months after the state Judicial Discipline & Disability Commission concluded that the judge gave male defendants a hand-written note in court with his phone number on it instructing them that they could perform a "community service" at his house as part of a "substitutionary" sentence.

In a letter to the judge last week, the commission said it was in the process of recovering some 4,500 photos from the judge's computer.

"They all depict young men, many naked, who are in various poses inside the judge's home and outside in his yard," the letter said.

The judge had initially claimed that the pictures were "to corroborate participation in community service."

The commission found (PDF) that "In addition to the illegal sentences, Boeckmann has used his judicial status to form relationships, personal and sexual, with certain male litigants." According to the commission, when he took the bench in January, 2009, he began seeking out male defendants usually between 18 to 35:

Boeckmann has allowed certain male litigants to linger after court and receive instructions on where and how these "substitutionary sentences" shall be conducted. Court staff received little to no information regarding when or how these sentences are completed. Boeckmann has contacted male litigants on their personal telephones, or has given his personal telephone numbers, and requested they contact him to present their "trash pick up" requirements at either his office or his home. Upon the litigant presenting himself to Boeckmann's home or office, he then solicited sexual relations with these young men in exchange for reductions of or dismissals of their court fines and costs.

The ethics panel has turned over its findings to local prosecutors.

This post originated on Ars Technica