9:25 a.m. Update
Circuit Judge Brad Karren set Lloyd Chandler’s bond at $50,000.
He also ordered Chandler not to have any contact with his teen accuser. Chandler was also ordered not to have any unsupervised contact with any minors except his biological child.
Chander will be held in the Washington County jail if he can not post the bond.
Earlier
BENTONVILLE -- A Benton County Sheriff's Office deputy admitted he exchanged photographs with a 16-year-old girl last year but denies he had sex with her, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Lloyd Sean Chandler, 39, of Rogers was arrested Wednesday in connection with first-degree sexual assault, a Class A felony, and distributing, possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, a Class C felony. Chandler is being held in the Benton County Jail awaiting a bond hearing.
Arkansas Law
According to ACA 5-14-124, a person commits the offense of sexual assault in the first degree if the person engages in sexual intercourse with a minor who’s not the actor’s spouse, and the actor is a mandated reporter under 12-18-402(b) and is in a position of trust or authority over the victim.
According to ACA 5-27-602, a person commits the offense of distributing, possessing, or viewing of matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, if the person knowingly possesses or views through any means an image that depicts a child engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
Sheriff Kelley Cradduck said he fired Chandler.
"You can't control all 300 of them," Cradduck said of Sheriff's Office employees during a candidate forum at the Rogers Public Library on Wednesday night. "If they make a mistake like this, all you can do is terminate them, and that is what I did."
Bentonville and Rogers police officers began an investigation after they received allegations Chandler engaged in sexual intercourse with a teen girl, according to a news release from Bentonville police. The girl told police she met Chandler where she worked, and they began a friendship, talked on social media and shared inappropriate photographs.
The girl said Chandler invited her to his Rogers home in June, and the two had sexual intercourse, according to the news release.
The investigation began after the girl, who's now 17, told Mike Calnan, a Bentonville police officer, she dated Chandler, according to the probable cause affidavit. Calnan was eating at a restaurant where the girl works, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit says Calnan learned the girl was 16 when she dated Chandler.
The teen told police Chandler sent her a friend request on Facebook, and she accepted it. The two also started to communicate via Facebook Messenger.
The teen said she told Chandler she was 16, and he said she should have lied and told him she was 18 because he's a police officer, according to the affidavit.
The girl also reported Chandler sent her photographs of his genitalia via the Snapchat application. She said she sent Chandler five photographs of her breasts through the app, according to court documents.
The girl told police Chandler sent her an online message a few weeks after they had sex ending the relationship because he was a deputy and in a position of authority over her.
Chandler told the girl to delete all their exchanges through text messages and Facebook. The girl said Chandler also blocked her on Facebook, the affidavit states.
Chandler told police he sent the teen provocative pictures, according to the affidavit. He said he invited the girl to his home where they kissed and "played around." He then asked the girl to leave because she wasn't old enough to have sex with him.
The affidavit says Chandler told police, "I know I didn't have sex with this woman but I'm now worried about those pictures she sent me, that's child porn."