Stalking suspect jailed after child porn find

A Pope County man allowed out of jail to await trial on a federal charge of stalking was ordered to remain in jail on a separate federal charge of production of child pornography that came out of materials found on the man’s cellphone in connection with the stalking investigation.

Jerry Lee Honaker III, 27, of Russellville, was indicted Sept. 8 on federal charges of stalking and extortion and was arrested on Nov. 3 at his home in Russellville, according to court records. U.S. Magistrate Judge Joe Volpe, the records showed, released Honaker to the custody of his grandfather, Jerry Lee Honaker Sr., also of Russellville.

A search of Honaker’s cellphone, which was confiscated at the time of his original arrest, turned up evidence of the stalking and extortion counts, the records said, but also evidence of pornographic photos taken of an unidentified 4-year-old girl that were taken inside Honaker’s residence.

He was arrested Monday at the federal courthouse when he appeared for a meeting at the U.S. probation office.

The court records also referenced investigations in 2018 and 2019 in which two unidentified teens told police that Honaker had molested them in the past when each of the teens were seven-years-old and Honaker was 14 and 18, respectively.

Honaker’s grandfather said that Honaker’s routine was to get up, shower, go to work, come home and go to bed. But during his testimony, evidence presented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristin Bryant made it clear that some of the conduct had apparently occurred at his home while the grandfather was recovering from an injury.

He said that after his grandson’s most recent bond hearing, he had ordered all of his family and friends to not bring minor children to his home. Volpe had ordered that children be kept away from the home while Honaker was there and the elder Honaker agreed.

“I felt like it was best that nobody come over for now,” he said. “We’ve just got too much going on.”

The grandfather became defensive as Bryant went over some of the details of Honaker’s offenses after asking if he had any knowledge of what his grandson was charged with.

“If you want me to know, I’ll listen,” he said. “But I don’t really want to know.”

He became emotional when confronted with more of the details.

“It bothers you because you think it’s true, right?” Bryant asked, gently.

“It hurts,” the grandfather replied, weeping softly.

At that point, Bryant told Volpe that she wished to argue that Honaker had failed to overcome the legal presumption that, due to the nature of the charges against him, he should be kept in custody to ensure the safety of the community and his future attendance at court proceedings.

“I was going to find that,” Volpe said, gesturing toward the lectern, “but if you want to argue.”

“If you’re going to find it without me arguing then I’ll just sit down,” Bryant responded, with a laugh.

“Mr. Honaker has a sincere desire to want to look out for his grandson,” Volpe said, “but a lot of what he testified to is troubling.”