BENTONVILLE -- A Rogers man admitted to possessing images of child pornography and was sentenced to 30 years in prison Monday.
Roy Clayton Bland, 49, pleaded guilty to 10 counts of distributing, possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, a Class C felony. He pleaded guilty under a plea agreement attorney Sam Hall reached with Stuart Cearley, chief deputy prosecutor.
Bland originally was charged with 20 counts, but Cearley agreed to dismiss 10 as part of the plea agreement.
Bland was arrested Nov. 12. The arrest resulted from of an investigation by cyber crimes unit of the Benton County Sheriff's Office.
Bland admitted to downloading child pornography, according to a probable cause affidavit. He told a Sheriff's Office detective he began to download child pornography off the Internet 15 to 20 years ago, according to court documents. Bland said he had an addiction to child pornography, but claimed it prevented him from acting out with a child, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Bland would download images and then delete them and download them again so no one would find the images, according to court documents.
Circuit Judge Brad Karren accepted the plea agreement and Bland's guilty pleas.
Bland was sentenced to 30 years in the Arkansas Department of Correction. He must abide by a suspended sentence agreement for 10 years after his release from prison.
He will be required to register as a sex offender and must pay $2,120 in court costs.
He received 240 days of credit for time he spent in the Benton County Jail awaiting trial.
NW News on 07/15/2015