MIL Security Engine-1

Source: US FBI

      LITTLE ROCK—Andre Pride will spend the next 151 months in federal prison for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. Jonathan D. Ross, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, announced the sentence, which was handed down today by Chief United States District Judge Kristine G. Baker.

      Chief Judge Baker sentenced Pride to 151 months imprisonment and three years’ supervised release to follow his prison sentence. Pride faced a maximum sentence of not more than 20 years imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system.

      On July 19, 2022, Pride, 36, of Little Rock, was indicted by a federal grand jury on two counts of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. On May 5, 2023, Pride pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.

      On June 13, 2019, Pride was driving a Can-Am motorcycle and while law enforcement officers were attempting to make contact with him, Pride rammed their vehicle and fled. While fleeing, Pride observed two marked law enforcement vehicles and quickly turned around. After turning around, Pride rammed another law enforcement vehicle and fled on foot. While fleeing, Pride removed a baggie of fentanyl from his pocket tore open the bag and attempted to spread the fentanyl in the yard of an unknown residence. Following the arrest of Pride, law enforcement officers retrieved 30 grams of fentanyl from the yard.

      The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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Additional information about the office of the

United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, is available online at

https://www.justice.gov/edar

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Source: US FBI

      LITTLE ROCK—After a two-day trial, a Texas man has been convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm. On Tuesday, a federal jury found Kaeron Washington, 33, Lancaster, Texas, guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm, the sole count in the Indictment. Washington has previous convictions for aggravated robbery and drug possession.

      After deliberating less than two hours, the jury returned a verdict of guilty. United States District Judge Lee P. Rudofsky presided over the trial and will sentence Washington at a later date. The defendant faces a maximum sentence of ten years’ imprisonment.

      On February 18, 2022, physical surveillance was conducted at 7212 Geyer Springs Road, Little Rock, Arkansas. Law enforcement observed a group of individuals parked in front of a closed business on Geyer Springs at approximately 9:00 p.m. The occupants of the vehicle were observed smoking and passing items back and forth between vehicles for approximately 30 minutes. As investigators approached the vehicle, they activated their emergency lights and could smell an overwhelming odor of marijuana coming from the vehicles.

      Contact was made with Kaeron Washington, the driver of a white Mercedes. As investigators approached the vehicle, Washington was observed opening the driver’s door of the vehicle and throwing an item towards the rear of the vehicle. A bag of suspected marijuana was later located in the area. The passenger in Washington’s vehicle advised law enforcement officials that he had a gun at his feet. After the passenger was taken out of Washington’s vehicle, law enforcement seized the gun that was observed on the floorboard. An officer observed a small bag of suspected marijuana in the seat when the passenger exited the vehicle. During a further search of Washington’s vehicle, officers located a Glock pistol in the center console next to the driver’s seat.

      The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Little Rock Police Department, and the GET Rock Task Force.

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Additional information about the office of the

United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, is available online at

https://www.justice.gov/edar

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@USAO_EDAR 

Source: US FBI

Fayetteville – Isaac James Melder, age 42, of Yellville was sentenced on February 13, 2024, to 360 months in prison without the possibility of parole after being found guilty of communicating with a minor through the internet to entice the minor to engage in illegal sexual activity.  The Honorable Judge Timothy L. Brooks presided over the sentencing hearing in the U.S. District Court in Fayetteville.

According to court documents, in May of 2022, a fourteen-year-old female was reported missing after failing to get on the afternoon school bus.  An extensive search involving multiple law enforcement agencies began, during which officers discovered that Melder and the victim had communicated via the internet using an Xbox.  The messages revealed the two had planned to run away and live in a cave in the Marion County wilderness. The investigation further revealed that Melder had groomed both the victim and her family by providing groceries, money, alcohol, and marijuana and referred to the victim as his wife.

On June 22, 2022, an informant led law enforcement to the cave where Melder and the victim had lived since their May disappearance.  Melder was immediately taken into state custody.

Melder was indicted by a Grand Jury in the Western District in April of 2023 and entered a plea of guilty in July 2023.

U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes of the Western District of Arkansas made the announcement.

Mountain Home Police Department, Baxter County Sheriff’s Office, Marion County Sheriff’s Office, Arkansas State Police, Flippin Police Department, Arkansas Department of Correction, the U.S. Marshal’s Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Harrison Police Department, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Arkansas State Parks, the 14^th Judicial District Drug Task Force, investigated or assisted in the search in the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Devon Still prosecuted the case for the United States.

This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

Related court documents may be found on the Public Access to Electronic Records website @ www.pacer.gov

Source: US FBI

      LITTLE ROCK—A registered sex offender from Michigan has been convicted of committing multiple sex offenses in Arkansas at the conclusion of a three-day trial. On Wednesday, a federal jury found Jeremy Robert Ward, 33, of Marine City, Mich., guilty on all nine counts for which he was indicted: one count of interstate travel with the purpose of enticing a minor to engage in sexual activity with a minor, six counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, one count of receipt of child pornography, and one count of travel with the purpose to engage in illicit sexual activity with a minor.

      The jury returned their verdict after deliberating for approximately 90 minutes. United States District Judge Kristine G. Baker presided over the trial and will sentence Ward at a later date. One of Ward’s charges carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in prison.

      “This defendant, who is already a convicted sex offender, continued this abhorrent behavior by acting on his desire to have sex with a minor. He used social media to seek out the victim and took advantage of her innocence,” said Jonathan D. Ross, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. “This verdict the jury reached sends a clear message that Arkansas juries will not hesitate to convict sex offenders for this type of conduct. If you seek to have sex with children, you will be caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent under federal law.”

      Ward was previously convicted in 2013 in Michigan of three counts possession of child sexually abusive material and one count of accosting a child for an immoral purpose. He is a registered sex offender in Michigan.

      Ward met the 12-year-old minor victim online in September 2022 when he added her to his Snapchat account. He exchanged messages with the victim for approximately three weeks before traveling to Arkansas from his home in Michigan to meet her. On October 15, 2022, he met her face-to-face when he drove up to her in his pickup truck while she was riding her bike near her neighborhood in Bryant. During her encounter with Ward, the victim began surreptitiously recording a portion of her exchange with him. On the video, Ward told her, “I was hoping to take you home” and “I just wish she [her mom] would let you go, especially since I drove all the way down here.” Ward also told the minor victim that she must “think I’m gonna kidnap you or something,” to which she replied, “You probably are about to at this point.” He later asked if she knew of any “private spots,” in an attempt to find a more secluded place to be with her.

      Around the same time, using an application on her cell phone, her father noticed she was outside of the established boundary where she was permitted to be. Her parents went to her location, and her father found the minor victim laying in the grass with Ward, whose pants were around his ankles. Ward then fled into the woods.

      The minor victim testified at trial that while she was in the field with Ward, he attempted to commit sexual acts with her. Subsequent investigation revealed that the victim and Ward communicated through video messages, some of which Ward recorded on his phone. The recorded video messages were recovered from Ward’s phone and included video and still images of the nude minor victim in the shower.

      “Each year thousands of children are targeted and victimized by child predators. Mr. Ward’s heinous crimes highlight the prevalent threat Arkansas youth and families face,” said Special Agent in Charge Alicia D. Corder of FBI’s Little Rock Field Office. “This case is yet another example of FBI Little Rock’s commitment to working with our partners to target individuals who seek to exploit the most vulnerable members of our community.”

      The statutory penalty for sexual exploitation of a minor ranges from not less than 25 years to not more than 50 years. The statutory penalty for traveling with the purpose of engaging in sexual activity with a minor is not less than 10 years imprisonment and up to life imprisonment. The statutory penalty for receipt of child pornography is not less than 15 years and not more than 40 years imprisonment. The statutory penalty for of travel with the purpose to engage in illicit sexual activity with a minor is not more than 30 years imprisonment. All offenses of conviction include a potential penalty of not more than a $250,000 fine and not less than five years to life of supervised release.

      The investigation was conducted by the FBI, and the case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Kristin Bryant and Amanda Fields.

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Additional information about the office of the

United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, is available online at

https://www.justice.gov/edar

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Source: US FBI

Offenders Deceive and Manipulate Victims to Create Sexually Explicit Material for Extortion Purposes

Source: US FBI

      LITTLE ROCK—Jonathan D. Ross, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, announced today that a former Bryant High School teacher has pleaded guilty to transporting a minor across state lines for the purpose of unlawful sexual activity. Heather Hare, 33, of Conway, entered this guilty plea earlier today before United States District Judge Lee P. Rudofsky.

      Judge Rudofsky will sentence Hare at a later date. Transportation of a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity is punishable by not less than 10 years imprisonment and up to life imprisonment, and not less than five years of supervised release.

      The investigation into Hare revealed that Hare taught Family Consumer Science classes at Bryant High School and met the minor victim on his first day of his senior year. Hare began one-on-one counseling sessions with the minor victim, eventually giving him her personal phone number and primarily communicating with him through Instagram and Snapchat.

      Hare later told the minor victim that she had a dream of them having sex and gave him her home address in Conway. The minor victim and Hare had sex approximately 20 to 30 times throughout the 2021-2022 school term, including multiple times at her Conway residence, in her vehicle, and in her classroom and parking lots at Bryant High School.

      Between April 21 and April 24, 2022, Hare was the sponsor and chaperone for a field trip to Washington, D.C., as part of an extracurricular activity related to the Family Consumer Science courses Hare taught. During the field trip, which included four students, of which the minor victim was the only male student, Hare and the minor victim engaged in the unlawful sexual activity to which she pleaded guilty.

      “This former teacher took advantage of her position of trust and the vulnerability of a minor, using her role to entice and lure this minor into engaging in unlawful sexual activity,” Ross said. “Our office will continue to seek significant penalties against any educational professional who sexually abuse their students.”

      Hare was indicted on August 1, 2023, and charged with one count of interstate/foreign travel for prostitution/sexual activity by coercion and one count of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. In exchange for her guilty plea, the remaining charge was dismissed.

      The case was investigated by the FBI, Bryant Police Department, and Saline County Sheriff’s Office and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kristin Bryant.

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Additional information about the office of the

United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, is available online at

https://www.justice.gov/edar

X (formerly known as Twitter):

@EDARNEWS