A Level 4 sex offender with child pornography charges pending from 2019 was arrested Wednesday on a felony charge of failing to register as required.
Jeffrey Paul Whittier, 64, who lists a Walnut Valley Road address, had previously been arrested Feb. 6 for failing to appear for a hearing on the child porn charges and was in custody Wednesday when he was served with the new warrant for failure to comply with sex offender registration and reporting requirements, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Whittier was being held on zero bond and was set to appear Friday on the new charge in Garland County District Court.
According to the probable cause affidavit on the failure to register charge, Whittier was convicted of a third-degree sexual offense on Jan. 17, 2005, in Maryland. He was assessed in 2015 by the Arkansas Sex Offender Community Notification Assessment Center as a Level 4 offender, the highest rating, who must register with local law enforcement every three months.
In Arkansas, Level 4 Sex Offenders are classified as sexually violent predators, defined as a person who has been adjudicated guilty of a sex offense or acquitted on the grounds of mental disease or defect of a sex offense that makes the person likely to engage in predatory sex offenses.
Whittier reported to Garland County sheriff's Deputy Courtney Kizer, the sex offender coordinator for the GCSO, on Oct. 8, 2020. At that time, due to COVID-19 restrictions, Whittier called in to verify his information and reportedly acknowledged his next date to verify was Jan. 2, 2021.
Since his last check-in on Oct. 8, Whittier has allegedly not attempted to verify his information, so a warrant was issued for his arrest.
According to the affidavit on the child pornography charges, on Sept. 5, 2019, Whittier was arrested on 50 counts of distributing, possessing or viewing of matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
On Sept. 5, Sheriff's Cpl. Kenneth Ford along with members of Arkansas Community Correction, sheriff's deputies and Arkansas State Police had gone to Whittier's residence on Walnut Valley to conduct a sex offender compliance check.
Whittier was the only one there and it was discovered the address listed on his driver's license did not match his current address, a misdemeanor violation of the registration requirements.
Whittier reportedly gave ACC Officer Kenny Kendrick consent to search his cellphone where Kendrick allegedly saw photos depicting young male children with their privates exposed.
Whittier was taken into custody and later questioned at the detention center after being read his rights. Whittier allegedly admitted to being in possession of "photos that he should not be." It was noted the children in the photos appeared to be the approximate age of 10.
Whittier allegedly stated there were "probably a couple hundred photos on the phone." On Oct. 21, 2019, forensic data was extracted from the phone and reviewed and there were approximately 618 "child exploitation images," not counting duplicate images, on Whittier's cellphone.
Whittier pleaded not guilty to the child pornography charges on Dec. 3, 2019, and was released on $4,500 on Dec. 6, 2019. A hearing on the admissibility of statements Whittier made to investigators was initially scheduled for April 21, 2020, and was continued three times before being held on Sept. 8.
Whittier was set for a disposition hearing on Nov. 17, but reportedly failed to appear and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was arrested on Feb. 6 and has remained in custody since then.