Source: Office of United States Attorneys
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – An Eldon, Mo., man who is a registered sex offender was sentenced in federal court today for possessing child pornography.
David Arabie, 59, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes to 20 years in federal prison without parole, the statutory maximum sentence for this offense. The court also sentenced Arabie to 25 years of supervised release following incarceration.
Arabie is a registered sex offender with prior felony convictions for statutory sodomy involving a 6-year-old victim and criminal sexual conduct involving the sexual abuse of three children ages 7 to 12.
On Oct. 26, 2023, Arabie pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography. The court found him in breach of his plea agreement at today’s hearing, however, after Arabie filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea and recanted his previous statements made under oath during the change of plea hearing, claiming to be innocent of the charged conduct. On Dec. 20, 2024, the court denied Arabie’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea.
Arabie admitted that, while visiting his in-laws, he used a peer-to-peer file-sharing network on his computer to share images of child sexual abuse material with an undercover law enforcement officer. Arabie shared a video of the sexual abuse of a child victim approximately 3 to 6 years old.
Arabie also admitted that he possessed more than 600 images of child sexual abuse material on his computer.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ashley S. Turner. It was investigated by the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Project Safe Childhood
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”