Child porn probe leads to arrest of Malvern man
A Malvern man was arrested early Friday on multiple charges involving child pornography after an investigation by Hot Springs police into images and videos sent from a Hot Springs Facebook account.
Jeremy Ryan Heath, 30, was initially arrested by Grant County sheriff’s deputies and was transferred to the custody of Hot Springs police around 2 a.m. Friday in the 7400 block of Malvern Road. He is charged with five felony counts of distributing, possessing or viewing of matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Heath was later released on a $25,000 bond and is set to appear on Jan. 14 in Garland County District Court.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on May 20, an HSPD detective was assigned a case from the Arkansas State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, of which he is a task force member, stemming from a cyber tip generated by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The tip was in reference to a Facebook account belonging to a suspect in Hot Springs who reportedly sent images and videos of child pornography. During the course of the investigation, four suspects, including Heath, were identified who had received the files involving “child abuse sexual material.”
The first of eight files including images and video of child abuse was sent on May 10, the affidavit said.
On June 2, a female juvenile under the age of 17 was interviewed at the HSPD and it was determined Heath was aware of the age of the victim.
A search warrant of Heath’s property was issued and detectives were allegedly able to identify and verify the child pornography images and videos in his possession.
“The defendant knowingly and willingly received child pornography of a female under the age of 17 in violation of state law,” the affidavit states. A warrant for Heath’s arrest on the five counts was later issued.