Trial in enticement of a minor underway in U.S. court in LR

The federal trial of a Pulaski County man accused of enticement of a minor got underway Monday with the detective who headed the investigation providing explicit testimony regarding text and email conversations he had with the man while conducting a sting operation.

According to court records, Christopher J. Harcrow, 49, of North Little Rock, was arrested June 27, 2017, by Faulkner County deputies after he appeared for a meeting he had arranged in Greenbrier with someone he thought was a 15-year-old boy but was in reality undercover Faulkner County Detective Chad Meli. Harcrow was charged in Faulkner County with internet stalking of a child, which was dismissed in April 2019 following Harcrow’s indictment by a federal grand jury.

According to a probable cause affidavit dating from Harcrow’s 2017 arrest, Meli — using the undercover profile of a 15-year-old boy — responded to a Craigslist ad seeking to give spankings to boys and young guys that was later identified as having been posted by Harcrow. Over the course of 22 days, the affidavit said, Harcrow communicated with Meli via email and text message that began with Harcrow offering advice but later discussing having sexual contact with the “boy.”

Those messages culminated with a meeting arranged at a convenience store just outside of Greenbrier, at which Harcrow was arrested after he was confirmed as the target of the investigation. The affidavit said he told investigators that he intended only to tell the “boy” to go home and stop engaging in such behavior.

In court on Monday, U.S. District Judge Kristine G. Baker admonished the jury of nine men, three women and two alternates to avoid any research of Harcrow, the offense he is accused of, or of any attorneys or witnesses involved in the trial.

“By the time you hear all of the evidence in this case,” Baker said, “you will know everything you need to know to render a verdict.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Allison Bragg outlined the trajectory of the investigation for the jury as she opened for the United States. She walked the jury through the milestones of the investigation that culminated with Harcrow agreeing to meet the “boy” in Greenbrier.

“On that day,” Bragg said, “that’s exactly where the defendant went.”

She said it appeared at one point that Harcrow had decided to cut off contact, and did so for a 10-day period, but then, “unprompted, the defendant sent a test message and an email,” to Meli, whom Harcrow believed to be a 15-year-old boy named “Connor,” living in Greenbrier. She said Harcrow initiated that contact with the message, “Hey boy, when do you turn 16?”

John Wesley Hall, Harcrow’s defense attorney, began by telling the jury that a number of facts in the case, such as the role of Harcrow’s cellphone in interstate commerce and the ages of the principals in the case, were not in dispute, but he said what is disputed is Harcrow’s culpability in the offense.

“Was it inducement, enticement, persuasion?” he asked. “The answer at the close of the case, we believe, is going to be no, the government did not prove that.”

Hall noted that “having gay sex in Arkansas is not a crime and hasn’t been for a long time,” and said although sex between someone over 20 years old and someone younger than 16 is illegal under state law, Harcrow was adamant when talking to police that “nothing is going to happen.” Hall said under the available evidence, the government would be unable to prove that Harcrow had tried “inducement, enticement or persuasion” in an attempt to convince a 15-yearold boy to have sex with him and that the jury would have to find him innocent of the charge.

Meli, who now works out of Bangkok, Thailand, training law enforcement in computer forensics, testified for about two hours Monday after the jury was seated. He and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordan Crews read through several pages of text messages and emails, many of them containing graphic descriptions of various sex acts, for most of Meli’s time on the stand.

Meli will be back on the witness stand this morning for Crews to finish direct examination and Hall to begin cross examination.

The trial is expected to conclude today or Wednesday, at which time the jury will begin deliberations.