A Michigan man has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for sexually explicit conversations online with a teenage girl from Arkansas that included exchanging nude photographs, according to U.S. Attorney Kenneth Elser.
David Henry, 54, of Flint, Mich., pleaded guilty March 10 to two counts of production of child pornography. He was sentenced this week before Chief Judge P.K. Holmes III in U.S. District Court in Fort Smith, Elser said in a news release.
Henry was also ordered to serve five years of supervised release on each count, with the sentences to run concurrently.
He began talking online with the 14-year-old Fort Smith girl in the fall of 2015, instructing the teen via Facebook Messenger to send him nude pictures of herself engaging in sexually explicit activity, according to a plea agreement. Henry also sent nude images of himself to the girl.
When the girl expressed concern over their conversations, Henry mailed the teen a tablet so they could continue communicating without detection, Elser said.
The mother eventually found and reported the conversations to law enforcement, and Henry was indicted by a federal grand jury Jan. 27, the release states. The Fort Smith Police Department and Michigan State Police investigated the case.
Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.