West Fork Man Sentenced to 25 Years in Federal Prison for Production of Child Pornography

            Fayetteville, Arkansas - Kenneth Elser, United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, announced that Nathan Robert Wesley Johnson, age 26, of West Fork, was sentenced today to 300 months imprisonment followed by 25 years of supervised release for Production of Child Pornography. The sentencing hearing took place before the Honorable Judge Timothy L. Brooks in the United States District Court in Fayetteville.  

            According to the plea agreement, Nathan Johnson admitted to chatting online with a 15-year-old girl residing in Fort Smith and encouraging her to send him naked pictures of herself.  He admitted to using the Facebook Messenger application on his cell phone to chat with her and obtain these pictures.  Johnson was indicted by a federal grand jury on March 16, 2016 and pleaded guilty on April 13, 2016. 

            “Today’s sentencing reflects Johnson’s despicable conduct in demeaning and subjecting the victim to sexual exploitation,” said Assistant Special Agent in Charge David Shepard with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Little Rock.  “We appreciate the steadfast efforts of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Fort Smith Police Department as well as our federal, state, and local partners associated with Project Safe Childhood.”

            This case was investigated by Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Fort Smith Police Department. 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.

*  *  *    E N D    *  *  *

Related court documents may be found on Public Access to Electronic Records Website @www.Pacer.gov