A Hot Springs Village man was arrested Monday on 30 felony counts of distributing, possessing or viewing of material depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, the Arkansas attorney general's office said Tuesday.
Mark Burke White, 32, who lists a 6 Peral Circle address in Hot Springs Village, was arrested at his residence at around 10:30 a.m. Monday by Arkansas State Police. Each count is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
As of Tuesday afternoon, he remained in custody in lieu of a $105,000 bond and is set to appear today in Garland County District Court.
According to the probable cause affidavit, during authorized internet undercover operations, the attorney general's Cyber Crimes Unit identified a computer, reportedly in Arkansas, that was offering to participate in the distribution of known child pornography.
The computer, identified through its IP address, was offering to participate in the downloading or distribution of child sexual abuse material on May 7, 2017, and was last reported on Feb. 7.
On Dec. 1, 2017, a criminal subpoena was reportedly served to the computer's internet service provider, requesting the subscriber records for the IP address during specific dates and times that IP address was offering to participate in the distribution of known child pornography, the affidavit states.
Subsequent subpoenas were served to the internet service provider, requesting the IP address history, which allegedly showed a user was offering to participate in the online downloading or distribution of child exploitation material as recently as 10:23 a.m. Feb. 7.
On Monday, agents with the attorney general's office served a search and seizure warrant at 6 Peral Circle in Hot Springs Village and reportedly made contact with White. During the search, agents allegedly located a laptop White was reportedly logged onto at that time showing recently accessed material depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child.
An external hard drive with more than 30 videos depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child was allegedly located next to the laptop.
Special agents allegedly seized two laptops, two phones and numerous external hard drives and flash drives from the residence, a release from the attorney general's office said.
Local on 02/28/2018