Suspect in FBI sting admits sending pictures of genitals
A White County man accused of attempted enticement of a minor and transfer of obscene material pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to one count of attempted enticement of a minor rather than face trial on the charges handed up in February by a federal grand jury.
Jon Dakota Heimeyer, 28, of Pangburn was arrested Dec. 13 after a 3½-month FBI investigation during which Heimeyer is accused of communicating online with a person he is alleged to have believed was a 13-year-old girl for the purpose of having sex with her, according to the indictment. In reality, he was communicating with an undercover FBI agent conducting a sting operation.
A complaint filed Dec. 14, 2020, by FBI Special Agent Aaron Green contained transcripts of nine online conversations between the undercover agent and Heimeyer that took place between Sept. 3 and Dec. 13 that quickly became explicitly sexual in nature. Those conversations culminated in a planned meeting in Little Rock that resulted in Heimeyer’s arrest.
As part of his plea agreement, Heimeyer pleaded guilty to the charge of attempted enticement of a minor in exchange for the government’s agreement to dismiss the count of transfer of obscene material.
Heimeyer — shackled, handcuffed and dressed in jail scrubs — was escorted into the courtroom Wednesday by federal marshals. He has been in jail since his bond was revoked in January after numerous violations of the terms of his pretrial release.
After explaining his rights to a trial by jury, U.S. District Judge James M. Moody Jr. told Heimeyer that a guilty plea would negate almost all of those rights.
“If you plead guilty and
I accept it, you’ll be found guilty on that guilty plea,” Moody said. “There won’t be any trial. You’ll have waived that right. Do you understand that all of this is a consequence of your guilty plea?”
“Yes, sir,” Heimeyer answered.
Moody said under U.S. sentencing statutes, Heimeyer could be sentenced to a term in prison ranging from 10 years to life followed by 5 years to life on supervised release, a $250,000 fine and a mandatory $5,000 special assessment. He explained that a presentence report to be prepared by the U.S. Probation Office would calculate a guideline sentencing range that, although advisory, is not mandatory for judges to follow.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristin Bryant outlined the plea agreement and then read the facts that the government intended to prove if the matter was taken to trial.
Bryant read into the record the contents of several exchanges between Heimeyer and an FBI undercover agent online covert employee (OCE) impersonating a 13-year-old girl on the KIK messaging app.
“The OCE clearly indicated that she was 13-years-old and invited the defendant to join the OCE at a G0ogle hangout,” Bryant said. “The OCE and Heimeyer communicated between September and December of 2020.”
Bryant began reading excerpts from the conversations of the two that grew increasingly graphic and explicit in nature, and described explicit photos that Heimeyer sent over the app to the OCE.
Bryant said that when Heimeyer was arrested on Dec. 13, 2020, Heimeyer admitted to using the email address and screen name that he had used while messaging with the OCE. She said he also confirmed that the conversation had begun on KIK and later moved to Google Hangouts.
“Mr. Heimeyer admitted his KIK messenger username,” Bryant said, “and admitted to sending five to six photographs of his penis and two videos. If the defendant had engaged in the sex acts described in these messages it would have been a violation of Arkansas law.”
“Did you hear what Ms. Bryant read into the record?” Moody asked Heimeyer.
“Yes, sir,” Heimeyer responded.
“If this case were to go to trial do you believe the government could prove each and every fact that Ms. Bryant just read?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Is that because all of those facts are true?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Mr. Heimeyer,” Moody asked, “do you believe it’s in your best interest to plead guilty to count one in the indictment?”
“Yes, sir,” Heimeyer answered.
“Then how do you plead?” Moody asked.
“Guilty,” Heimeyer answered.
“Is that because you are, in fact, guilty?” asked Moody.
“Yes, sir,” Heimeyer answered.
After accepting the plea, Moody explained that Heimeyer will be brought back for sentencing after a presentencing report is prepared by the U.S. Probation Office, a process he said could take 60 to 90 days.