SPRINGDALE — A Fayetteville man arrested on charges of possession of child pornography will face a judge in a state court, according to law enforcement officials who had to decide whether to pursue federal or state charges in the case.
Blake Lee Foust, 21, faces a charge of distributing, possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit material involving a child. His case will be heard in Washington County Circuit Court rather than being transferred to federal jurisdiction, said Denis Dean, deputy prosecuting attorney.
John Threet, 4th Judicial District prosecutor, said there were discussions with federal officials about where the case should be prosecuted.
“Sometimes they can get a better conviction out of a case than we can,” Threet said.
“There are some limits to what we can prosecute through federal statutes, where state prosecutions can be far broader.”
—Conner Eldridge, U.S. Attorney, Western District of Arkansas
Foust was arrested in connection with contributing to the delinquency of a minor after Springdale police said they found him inside a car at Rotary Park at about 4:25 a.m. Jan. 3 along with his 15-year-old girlfriend. While inventorying Foust’s car, his cellphone rang, and officers saw an image on the phone’s screen of the girl partly clothed, according to an arrest report. A later search of the phone turned up nude photos of the girl.
Foust faces charges based on the digital images, officials said.
“Any sexually explicit image of a child under 18 is illegal, no matter how it was obtained and no matter how old the recipient is,” said Al Barrios of the Springdale Police Department. “In a lot of cases, the tough part is determining the age of the person in the picture, whether they’re a minor or not. In this case, we’d spoken to her and knew she was underage.”
While the practice of sending lewd cellphone images, called sexting, is increasing, officials still uncover far more child pornography on computers than phones, Threet said.
Barrios said newer phones with cameras and Internet capabilities have made the situation more common.
Technically, the minor involved could be charged with creating child pornography, but that’s rare in Northwest Arkansas.
“They’re young, and they may not realize the danger they’re in by interacting with an adult in this manner,” Barrios said. “Generally we try to counsel them rather than take someone who’s a victim and put them in a court situation themselves.”
Caseloads, sentencing guidelines and other factors determine whether a case goes the state or federal route, said Conner Eldridge, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas.
“There are some limits to what we can prosecute through federal statutes, where state prosecutions can be far broader,” Eldridge said. “One advantage we do have at the federal level, particularly if there’s a high risk of reoffending, is lifetime supervised release after they complete their incarceration.”