A Conway County man faces up to 10 years in federal prison after pleading guilty Friday to one count of possession of child pornography before U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright.
William Austin Palmer, 31, of Cleveland, was indicted last December on one count each of possession, distribution and advertisement of child pornography by a federal grand jury in Little Rock. He was scheduled to go to trial next month.
Palmer was arrested Aug. 18, 2020, by Arkansas State Police on one count of distributing/possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child. The following Oct. 14, Palmer was charged in Conway County Circuit Court with 62 counts of distributing/possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child.
Those charges were dismissed in December after the federal indictment.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne Gardner said that under the terms of a plea agreement, Palmer would plead guilty to possession of child pornography in exchange for the government's agreement to dismiss the remaining two counts.
"On July 22, 2020, Marcos Garaycochoea, an investigator for the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office, was operating in an undercover capacity and met Kik Username: Dark Night, User: Palmer633, which resolved to William Austin Palmer," Gardner said. "The investigator determined that the IP address used by Dark Night returned to [a member of Palmer's family]."
Gardner said Palmer sent the investigator a MEGA link that hosted 66 videos, considered child pornography, one of which was a 16:14 video depicting a nude female child, approximately 12 years old, performing a sexually explicit act. She said that when Palmer was arrested by FBI and Arkansas State Police on Aug. 18, 2020, his iPhone was seized and a review of it revealed 11 videos of child pornography and 555 images.
According to a probable-cause affidavit filed in Conway County by Matthew Foster, a special agent with the Arkansas State Police, the MEGA link contained 66 videos and a file named "young girls" that held several videos of underage females engaged in various forms of sexual activity including intercourse and oral sex. The affidavit said Palmer had told Garaycochoea that he had sexually assaulted young girls and that he was about to move in with another young girl.
Gardner said sentencing enhancements include a five level increase for distribution of the images and videos, an additional five level increase because the offense included at least 600 images, and a four level increase because the images depicted sadistic or masochistic behavior. Those enhancements are on top of a base offense level of 18, according to U.S. sentencing guidelines.
"The defendant acknowledges that without benefit of a plea agreement he could be subject to an additional two-level increase because the offense involved use of a computer," Gardner said, "and furthermore, he would be subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 180 months imprisonment pursuant to count two (advertisement of child pornography).
Palmer, who is being held in the Van Buren County jail for the U.S. Marshals Service, will be sentenced after completion of a pretrial report by the U.S. Probation Office. Wright, who did not set a date for sentencing, said that process will take at least 45 days.