Fort Smith Man Sentenced To 35 Years In Federal Prison For Production Of Child Pornography

Fort Smith, Arkansas – Duane (DAK) Kees, United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, announced that Jay Don Gifford, age 26, of Fort Smith, Arkansas, was sentenced today to 420 months in federal prison followed by a  lifetime of supervised release on one count of Production of Child Pornography and one count of Offense by a sex Offender. The Honorable P. K. Holmes, III presided over the sentencing hearing in the United States District Court in Fort Smith. 

According to court records, in October 2018, officers with the Northwest Arkansas Internet Crimes Against Children taskforce received information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that at ninety (90) files of suspected child pornography were uploaded to Dropbox by an individual. Further investigation showed the individual to be Gifford, a registered sex offender who was residing in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Law enforcement located and interviewed Gifford who admitted to taking explicit photographs and videos of two minors.      

Gifford was indicted in February of 2019 on federal charges and entered a guilty plea to Counts 1 and 7, Production of Child Pornography and Offense by a Sex Offender in August 2019. 

This case was investigated by Arkansas State Police and Homeland Security Investigations.  Assistant United States Attorney Carly Marshall prosecuted the case for the United States.