Arkansas man gets more than 6 years in federal child-porn case

An Arkansan was sentenced Thursday to more than six years in federal prison in a child-porn case.

Howard Christopher Melton, 36, of Farmington got 80 months on one count of receipt of child pornography, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. That term will be followed by 10 years of supervised release, and Melton must also pay $3,600 in fines.

In August 2016, the Northwest Arkansas Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce reportedly received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about a Twitter account that was uploading images of child porn to the Internet. The account was later linked to Melton, the newspaper reported, citing court records.

A search of his home and a computer hard drive reportedly yielded numerous images depicting child porn. The Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that investigators with the Department of Homeland Security interviewed Melton on Nov. 21, 2016, when he admitted to searching for, receiving and saving child porn from the Internet.

He was reportedly indicted in January and pleaded guilty in March.

Click here to read the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's story.

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