Judge sentences ‘sexual predator’ to 30 years
Calling him a “sexual predator,” a U.S. District Court judge sentenced a Hot Springs man to 30 years in prison without the possibility of parole on child porn charges Thursday, in excess of the recommended maximum determined by a presentencing report.
Bradley Richard Fields, 40, had pleaded guilty on June 18, 2020, to one count of sexual exploitation of a minor via the production of child pornography and one count of distribution of child pornography. A sentencing hearing was held Thursday morning at the conclusion of which Judge Susan O. Hickey sentenced Fields to 20 years on the first count and 10 years on the second count, to run consecutively for a total of 30 years, followed by supervised release for the rest of his life.
“It’s not often I vary above the guideline range, but your conduct was terrible,” Hickey told Fields. “I consider you a sexual predator who groomed this victim over a long period of time which will have a lasting impact on her.”
Fields’ attorney, Alex Wynn, a federal public defender, had argued Fields had no prior criminal history before his arrest on the charges, but Hickey said, “Even though it’s your first offense, you exploited an underage child, she was just a child, and you robbed her of her innocence.”
Hickey said the punishment needed to be severe enough to deter not only Fields but others from such conduct in the future, noting the victim “will have to live with the trauma of this for the rest of her life. You have condemned her to this horror for the rest of her life.”
Wynn had argued earlier that a
sentence of 20 years in prison for his client was “sufficient,” noting Fields “has shown remorse from day one” and had cooperated with the investigation and “did not waste anyone’s time” by resisting.
“He knows what he did was abhorrent and that he deserves punishment,” Wynn said, but argued that on “the spectrum of bad conduct” Fields’ behavior would be on the “not so bad end” because there was no evidence of sexual contact and the images and video Fields distributed were “not as explicit” as others have been.
He also noted “only 171 images” were found which was “a low number compared to the thousands often seen with other child pornography offenders.”
Wynn also argued Fields was a victim of physical and sexual abuse growing up and “suffered from bullying and depression.” He said Fields “never had a happy life” and “the worst part is he now knows he has done the same thing to someone else. He has continued that cycle and feels remorse for it.”
In a prepared statement Fields read, he said, “I’ve been through a lot in my life, but I never thought I would be in this position.” Noting he was wrong to have made the videos or sent the images to others, he said, “I wish I had never done any of this and I am ashamed of myself. I know what I did was wrong.
“If I could tell the victim a million times how sorry I am it still wouldn’t be enough,” Fields said.
When he gets to prison, Fields said he plans to seek his GED and complete all the programs and counseling “to prepare myself for a good job. My main goal is to become a productive person to society.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bryan Achorn, who prosecuted the case, told Hickey while the victim was 9 years old in the images Fields was prosecuted for, he had been grooming her since she was at least 7 years old and there was some evidence it had started when she was 5 years old.
He questioned how much time it took “to train a 9-yearold” to take those photos and pose for those photos “without hesitation, without flinching. How many times did that have to happen before she gave up the fight and decided it was OK? Before she agreed to stand still and expose herself?”
Achorn said Fields’ possession of almost 200 photos and videos and comments he made to the person he sent the images to “makes it very clear he raped and abused that little girl on multiple occasions. That is his legacy, that is the chaos he left behind.”
He said the evidence shows “that little girl lived in hell for at least three years” and Fields “deserves to be punished for 10 times that amount. He needs to go to prison for at least 30 years.”
Hickey noted the presentencing report had recommended a range of 210 to 262 months, or roughly 17 to 22 years, but she felt that range was “insufficient” so she used a range of 24 to 30 years and opted to go with the maximum of 30 years.
Hickey agreed to make a recommendation for Fields to serve his time at a federal prison in Illinois, at his request, so he could be close to where his sister lives, but she noted it would just be a recommendation and the Federal Bureau of Prisons “puts prisoners where they decide.”
According to the probable cause affidavit for Fields, on July 10, 2019, Hot Springs police Lt. Duane Tarbet, who was a member of the Arkansas State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, was assigned a case in Hot Springs involving the distribution or possession of child pornography based on a cyber-tip generated by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children hotline.
The tip stated a verified Facebook account, with Fields listed as the owner, had sent a known image of child porn using Facebook messenger on his phone on May 30, 2019, at approximately 3:20 p.m.
On July 26, Tarbet arrested Fields on an unrelated warrant for third-degree battery and noted he had an iPhone XR in his possession which he admitted was his phone. The phone number matched the number reported by the hotline tip.
Fields admitted he had owned the phone since prior to May 2019 and that he had a Facebook account in the name listed in the tip. His phone was seized and a search warrant obtained for the extraction of information from the device.
Tarbet visually examined the phone and found a .zip file in the notes folder which contained 123 images, most of them involving child abuse and sexual material involving girls under the age of 18. Tarbet later obtained materials from the Facebook account with at least six containing child abuse sexual material involving underage girls.
Fields was arrested Aug. 8, 2019, initially on 50 felony counts of distributing, possessing or viewing of matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, each punishable by up to 10 years. On Nov. 20, 2019, a federal grand jury indicted Fields on five counts — production of child pornography, distribution of child pornography, possession of child pornography and two counts of receiving child pornography and the state charges were later withdrawn.
Fields was initially set to stand trial in federal court on Jan. 31, 2020, but it was continued several times, including some related to COVID-19, before he finally pleaded guilty on June 18, 2020, and a sentencing evaluation was conducted.
Achorn noted Thursday the federal government had agreed to dismiss three of the counts against Fields in exchange for his guilty plea on the remaining two counts.