6 years is sentence in child-porn case
BENTONVILLE — A Springdale man was sentenced to six years in prison after a jury found him guilty of charges related to his arrest in an internet sting to catch sexual predators.
John Herrera, 55, of Springdale was found guilty Wednesday of internet stalking of a child and computer child pornography.
The panel deliberated for about 30 minutes before returning with the guilty verdicts.
The jury deliberated for a short time on the sentencing and recommended Herrera serve six years for computer child pornography and six years for internet stalking. The panel recommended the sentences be served concurrently instead of consecutively.
Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren followed the jury’s recommendation.
Herrera was arrested Jan. 11 after exchanging sexually explicit messages with someone he believed was a teenage girl but who was actually a Siloam Springs police detective.
Detective Ron Coble testified Tuesday the two exchanged messages for six days. He said
Herrera sent him a photograph through the Whisper app. Coble said he sent two photos of a Siloam Springs police officer. The photos were altered to make her appear younger.
Coble read the messages to the jury as he was being questioned by Seth Segovia, deputy prosecutor. Some of the messages concerned Herrera and the girl having sex and some of the messages were sexually explicit.
The jury listened to Coble’s interview of Herrera and heard him admit he was wrong for communicating with someone he believed was a young girl. Herrera said in the interview he wasn’t interested in underage girls and he shouldn’t have talked with her.
Matt Reid, one of Herrera’s attorneys, questioned Coble about setting the age in the girl’s fake profile to 18 to 20.
“You lied about your age to chat with Mr. Herrera,” Reid asked.
“Yes, for my undercover persona,” Coble responded.
Herrera will be required to register as a sex offender and complete a sex offender treatment program. He was ordered not to have any unsupervised contact with any minors.