2 Benton County men get prison time for child porn

FAYETTEVILLE — Two Northwest Arkansas men were sentenced last week to federal prison for child exploitation offenses.

Earnest Dean Easley, 72, of Gravette was sentenced Wednesday to 168 months without the possibility of parole after being convicted of transporting child pornography online.

An FBI task force officer received information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on June 28, 2022, indicating Easley had sent an email containing images of child sexual abuse material, according to court documents. Officers later served a search warrant at Easley’s residence and discovered additional child pornography, some of which appeared to have been self-produced.

Easley later admitted that years prior, while living in Texas, he had taken lascivious photos of a minor female relative while she was sleeping.

On Thursday, Lyle Kenneth Smith, 53, of Gentry, was sentenced to 74 months in federal prison without the possibility for parole after being convicted of receiving child pornography.

In August 2021, FBI task force officers were conducting a nationwide investigation into Freenet, an online peer-to-peer platform. During the investigation, a task force officer discovered Smith was searching for child pornography through Freenet.

Officers executed a search warrant at Smith’s residence and discovered multiple devices containing child pornography and forensic evidence that Smith had downloaded illegal content from Freenet.

Smith admitted to having collected child pornography for years, using Freenet and other online sources.