A Hot Springs Village man was arrested Tuesday morning on multiple counts involving child pornography following an investigation by the Arkansas Attorney General's Cyber Crimes Unit earlier this year.
Daniel Allen Kimball, 55, of 226 Pyreness Way, was taken into custody at his residence by Hot Springs Village police and charged with 30 counts of distributing, possessing or viewing of matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Kimball, who was booked into the jail shortly before 2:30 p.m., was being held on zero bond and was set to appear Wednesday in Garland County District Court. According to court records, he had no prior criminal history.
According to the probable cause affidavit, during an authorized internet undercover operation, the cyber crimes unit identified a computer, reportedly in Arkansas, that was offering to participate in the distribution of known child pornography.
A computer IP address was identified as offering to participate in the downloading and or distribution of child sexual material from April 17 and was last reported on Sept. 1. On Oct. 7, agents served a subpoena to Suddenlink Communications, the internet service provider for the IP address.
The subpoena requested the subscriber records for the IP address during the dates and times listed. The address returned to a residence at 228 Pyreness Way.
On Tuesday, agents from the Arkansas attorney general's office executed a search warrant at the residence and interviewed Kimball, who was the resident at that address. Kimball allegedly disclosed "he had been distributing, viewing and was in possession of child pornography."
During a search of Kimball's laptop computer, agents reportedly found 30 images and videos "depicting children being sexually exploited" in his saved files.
Local on 12/05/2019