Alma Man Sentenced to 5 Years in Federal Prison for Child Pornography

            Fort Smith, Arkansas - Kenneth Elser, United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, announced that Lonnie Symonds, age 39, of Alma, Arkansas, was sentenced today to 60 months imprisonment followed by five years of supervised release for Receipt of Child Pornography.  The sentencing hearing took place before the Honorable P. K. Holmes, III in the United States District Court in Fort Smith.  

            According to court records, in February, 2015, the River Valley and Northwest Arkansas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and Homeland Security Investigations conducted a search for subjects using the internet to access child pornography and discovered that images and videos depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct had been downloaded at an apartment in Fort Smith where Symonds was living.  A federal search warrant was issued and executed on the apartment.  Symonds was present and admitted to law enforcement that he had been viewing and downloading child pornography.  A forensic examination of the laptop that law enforcement had seized from his apartment revealed 49 images depicting child pornography.  Symonds was indicted by a federal grand jury on October 28, 2015 and pleaded guilty to the charge on December 10, 2015.

            "This investigation highlights the continued successful partnership between ICE Homeland Security Investigations and the Northwest Arkansas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force," said Raymond R. Parmer Jr. special agent in charge of HSI New Orleans. "Identifying and investigating those who prey on innocent children via the Internet will continue to be one of HSI's highest priorities."

            This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the River Valley and Northwest Arkansas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.  Assistant United States Attorney Ashleigh Buckley prosecuted the case for the United States.

            This 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