Charleston Man Sentenced to 90 Months in Federal Prison for Child Pornography

            Fort Smith, Arkansas – Kenneth Elser, United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, announced that Danny Paul Cummings, age 47, of Charleston, was sentenced today to 90 months in federal prison followed by ten years of supervised release on one count of Distribution of Child Pornography. The Honorable Chief Judge P. K. Holmes, III presided over the sentencing hearing in the United States District Court in Fort Smith.

            According to court records, in April of 2016, the Fort Smith Arkansas Crimes Against Children Taskforce identified a Twitter user who was using a computer with a known I.P. address to upload images and videos depicting child pornography to the internet. A subsequent subpoena return from the suspect’s internet provider returned to the residence of Danny Paul Cummings. On or about April 28, 2016, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Cummings residence at which time he admitted to using his computer to distribute, trade, and download images and videos depicting child pornography through Twitter and a KIK account. Agents seized an I-Phone, cell phone, laptop computer, and a hard drive from the residence. A subsequent forensic examination of the devices yielded 565 pictures and 131 videos depicting child pornography. One of the videos depicted an adult male having vaginal sex with a female child approximately four-to-six years of age. The video was over a minute long, and records obtained reflect the video was distributed to others through the internet using Cumming’s KIK account.

            “Protecting our nation remains a top priority for Homeland Security Investigations,” said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Nicholas C. Nelson. “In this case, we worked jointly with our partners at the Greenwood Police Department and Ozark Police Department to successfully remove a violator from our local community.” Nelson is the Assistant Special Agent in Charge for Homeland Security Investigations with responsibility for Arkansas.

            Cummings was named in a federal indictment in August of 2016 and pleaded guilty in November of 2016.

            This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, Greenwood Police Department and Ozark Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Denis Dean prosecuted the case for the United States.

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Related court documents may be found on the Public Access to Electronic Records website @ www.pacer.gov