Man gets 50 years for child abuse
Springdale, Homeland Security investigation led to charges
FAYETTEVILLE — A Springdale man was sentenced Wednesday to 50 years in federal prison for multiple child sexual abuse offenses.
Matthew Ray Lawson, 34, was sentenced to prison without the possibility of parole and ordered to pay $30,000 collectively in fines and restitution on three counts of possession of child pornography, four counts of aggravated sexual abuse in Indian Country, one count of lewd acts with a child in Indian Country and one count of production of child pornography.
The term “Indian Country,” as defined in federal law, means all land within the limits of any Indian reservation under the jurisdiction of the United States government and all dependent Indian communities within the borders of the United States. A U.S. Supreme Court decision designated the federal Eastern District of Oklahoma as tribal land.
According to court documents, in September 2019, the Springdale Police Department was contacted by employees of a local towing company who said a vehicle belonging to Lawson was impounded and a thumb drive in the vehicle appeared to contain child sexual abuse images.
A subsequent investigation by the Springdale Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations’ Fayetteville Division led to Lawson’s residence being searched and the confiscation of multiple electronic devices, including a laptop computer.
A forensic examination by Homeland Security of Lawson’s laptop computer revealed about 900 videos and more than 240 images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, according to court documents.
Included in the images were multiple videos of Lawson sexually abusing a 6-year-old boy. Homeland Security ultimately identified the boy, who lived with his family outside Tulsa. An investigation by Homeland Security Investigations’ Tulsa Division found Lawson previously lived with the child’s family where he produced the child sexual abuse images and, during the same time frame, sexually abused a 3-year-old girl, according to court documents.
Lawson was initially charged in federal court in the Western District of Arkansas with two counts of possession of child pornography. He was separately charged in federal court in the Eastern District of Oklahoma with multiple offenses related to the sexual abuse of the two children. In June, the Oklahoma pending charges were transferred to Arkansas, and Lawson later pleaded guilty to all charges against him.
“This sentence accurately reflects the serious nature of this particularly heinous crime,” said David Clay Fowlkes, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas. “It is our sincere hope that this sentence sends an important message to those who would seek to engage in this sort of criminal conduct: Our office will continue to aggressively pursue cases against individuals who would seek to exploit and abuse children in the Western District of Arkansas and elsewhere.”