Local man pleads guilty to one count of child porn
A Hot Springs man arrested last summer on multiple counts involving child pornography pleaded guilty to one count Monday in Garland County Circuit Court.
Wayne Winford Weston, 57, who has remained in custody since his arrest May 17 in lieu of $25,000 bond, pleaded guilty to one count of distributing, possessing or viewing of matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and was sentenced to five years in prison with the entire sentence suspended.
Nine additional felony counts involving the same charge were withdrawn and Weston, who was set to stand trial Wednesday, was fined $1,000 and ordered to pay $420 in court costs. A search waiver was also issued for Weston that would allow authorities to search him and his residence at any time without a warrant.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on May 14, 2018,
Hot Springs police Lt. Duane Tarbet, who is the police department’s coordinator with the Arkansas State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, was assigned a case on Weston based on a cyber-tip generated through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The tip was in reference to a hotline report in Hot Springs in which a local man stated he had seen nude photos of young boys while at Weston’s residence on Marion Anderson Road. Tarbet made contact with the man, who stated he had previously lived
with Weston and on May 9, he and a friend were moving his belongings out of the house.
He said he accidentally knocked over a box and a magazine fell to the floor. Inside the magazine were printed photos of nude young males who did not appear to be adults. He said he hid the photos that day, but on May 11, he made a call to NCMEC and reported the incident.
Tarbet asked him if he could provide the photos and later that day, the man brought in a folder full of photos. Tarbet noted the photos appeared to be printed copies from a computer and in some it was difficult to determine the age of the subjects in the photos.
However, he found nine color photos and one black and white photo of nude young males between the ages of 12 and 15. The boys were pictured involved in sexually explicit acts, he noted.
A warrant was issued May 16 for Weston’s arrest and he was taken into custody the next day without incident. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges July 23 in circuit court.