Michigan Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Federal Prison for Child Pornography

            Fort Smith, Arkansas - Kenneth Elser, United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, announced that David Henry, age 54, of Flint, Michigan, was sentenced to 180 months in federal prison and five (5) years of supervised release on each of two counts of Production of Child Pornography; the sentences are to run concurrently. The sentencing hearing 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, Henry began chatting online with a 14-year-old female who was living in Fort Smith in the fall of 2015.  While using the Facebook Messenger application, Henry specifically instructed the victim to take pictures of herself in certain nude poses while engaging in sexually explicit conduct.  He then convinced her to send these images to him while also sending her nude images of himself.  When the victim expressed concern to Henry that her mother would find out about her sending him nude images, Henry mailed her a tablet so that they could continue their chats without detection.  On November 5, 2015, the victim’s mother ultimately discovered these messages and images on the victim’s cell phone and reported it to law enforcement.  Henry was interviewed by the Michigan State Police and admitted that he had been chatting online with the victim and that he believed her to be 15 years old.  He was indicted by a federal grand jury on January 27, 2016, and pleaded guilty to the charges on March 10, 2016.

            This case was investigated by the Fort Smith Police Department and the Michigan State Police. 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