Alma Man Sentenced to 30 Months in Federal Prison for Child Pornography

            Fort Smith, Arkansas - Kenneth Elser, United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, announced that Jacob Bowman, age 39, of Alma, Arkansas, was sentenced to 30 months imprisonment followed by five (5) years of supervised release on one count of Knowing Possession of Images of Child Pornography. The sentencing took place before the Honorable Chief Judge P.K. Holmes, III in the United States District Court in Fort Smith.  

            According to the plea agreement, on April 14, 2015, law enforcement received a cyber-tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that a particular Dropbox account contained images and videos depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.  The account was found to have been created by Bowman.  An examination of his cell phone revealed that the phone contained images of child pornography.  Bowman was indicted by a federal grand jury on December 9, 2015 and pleaded guilty on May 12, 2016.     

            “The children depicted in these images, that were illegally shared, are victimized time and time again,” said Assistant Special Agent in Charge David Shepard with the FBI in Little Rock. “Today’s sentencing illustrates the FBI’s dedication to rooting out child pornography and demonstrates the commitment of the United States Attorney’s Office to prosecute those who distribute child pornography and those affiliated with Project Safe Childhood to locate and apprehend these individuals.”

            This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigations.  Assistant United States Attorney Ashleigh Buckley prosecuted the case for the United States.

            The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and their Criminal Division Child Exploitation and Obscenity Sections (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

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Related court documents may be found on Public Access to Electronic Records Website @www.Pacer.gov