Source: Office of United States Attorneys
FAYETTEVILLE – A Fayetteville man was sentenced yesterday to 188 months in prison without the possibility of parole on one count of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor via Attempted Production of Child Pornography on January 15, 2025. The Honorable Judge Timothy L. Brooks presided over the sentencing hearing in the U.S. District Court in Fayetteville.
According to court documents, in November of 2023, the Benton County Sheriff’s Office conducted an online child pornography investigation that led investigators to discover that a residence in Fayetteville was responsible for downloading child pornography. The Benton County Sheriff’s Office then provided the lead to the Northwest Arkansas Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. Investigators with the ICAC Task Force and Fayetteville Police Department subsequently executed a residential search warrant at the Fayetteville residence and encountered John Steven Wallace, age 30, who admitted that he was responsible for downloading child pornography files via the peer-to-peer network. Wallace further admitted that he had produced images and videos of a minor in various stages of undress with a hidden camera staged in the bathroom of his residence. Subsequent forensic examination of the electronics taken from the residence confirmed Wallace had a large collection of child pornography and the videos of the minor he identified.
Wallace was indicted by a Grand Jury in May 2024 and entered a plea of guilty in September 2024.
U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes of the Western District of Arkansas made the announcement.
The Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, Fayetteville Police Department and the Benton County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tyler Williams prosecuted the case.
This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
Related court documents may be found on the Public Access to Electronic Records website @ www.pacer.gov