Farmington Man Sentenced to 7 Years in Federal Prison for Child Pornography

            Fayetteville, Arkansas - Kenneth Elser, United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, announced that Jedediah Waugh, age 43, of Farmington, was sentenced to 84 months in federal prison and ten (10) years of supervised release on one count of Receipt of Child Pornography.  The sentencing hearing took place before the Honorable Timothy L. Brooks in the United States District Court in Fayetteville.  

            According to the Plea Agreement, in December, 2015, Immigration and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Northwest Arkansas Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce initiated an investigation into the illegal trade and distribution of child pornography over publically available peer to peer online computer networks. During this time, law enforcement identified a specific computer that appeared to contain images of child pornography. A subpoena return from the suspect’s internet provider returned to the residence of Jedediah Waugh.  Law enforcement executed a search warrant of Waugh’s residence and he admitted to downloading and receiving images of child pornography on his computer. A subsequent forensic examination Waugh’s hard drive revealed multiple images of child pornography depicting female children as young as eight (8) to nine (9) years of age engaging in sexually explicit conduct with an adult male. Waugh was indicted by a federal grand jury in May, 2016 and pleaded guilty to the charge in July, 2016.

            The investigation was led by Homeland Security Investigations and the Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce.  Assistant United States Attorney Denis Dean 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