Bauxite Sex Offender Arrested on Computer Child Porn Charges
By: KARK 4 News
Updated: January 18, 2013
A Bauxite man registered as a Level 3* sex offender has been arrested for possession of child pornography.
Michael E. Rea, 43, was picked up Thursday after an investigation by agents of the Arkansas Attorney General's Office Cyber Crimes Unit.
Saline County Circuit Judge Gary Arnold found probable cause to arrest Rea on 20 counts of distributing, possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, a Class C felony, and four counts of computer exploitation of a child, a Class B felony.
Rea was being held at the Saline County Detention Center on $100,000 bond. He had been out of prison on probation for a 2010 sexual assault conviction. He also faces a probation revocation hearing.
"Through the collaborative efforts of our office and law enforcement agencies in Saline County and Hot Spring County, we were able to arrest a man who we believe was victimizing our children," McDaniel said. "Agents in our Cyber Crimes Unit will continue to work together with law enforcement officials statewide to protect our most vulnerable citizens."
The Attorney General's Cyber Crimes Unit launched an investigation into Rea in October after officials from the Malvern Police Department notified the Attorney General's Office that they suspected Rea had child pornography at his home.
Soom after, an agent with the Cyber Crimes Unit went with a Saline County probation officer on a visit to Rea's home on Sutton Road in Bauxite. That's where investigators say they found multiple images of child pornography on a laptop computer and seized it as electronic evidence for analysis at the Cyber Crimes Unit Forensic Lab in Little Rock.
*A Level 3 sex offender is considered to have a high risk of re-offending.
Michael E. Rea, 43, was picked up Thursday after an investigation by agents of the Arkansas Attorney General's Office Cyber Crimes Unit.
Saline County Circuit Judge Gary Arnold found probable cause to arrest Rea on 20 counts of distributing, possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, a Class C felony, and four counts of computer exploitation of a child, a Class B felony.
Rea was being held at the Saline County Detention Center on $100,000 bond. He had been out of prison on probation for a 2010 sexual assault conviction. He also faces a probation revocation hearing.
"Through the collaborative efforts of our office and law enforcement agencies in Saline County and Hot Spring County, we were able to arrest a man who we believe was victimizing our children," McDaniel said. "Agents in our Cyber Crimes Unit will continue to work together with law enforcement officials statewide to protect our most vulnerable citizens."
The Attorney General's Cyber Crimes Unit launched an investigation into Rea in October after officials from the Malvern Police Department notified the Attorney General's Office that they suspected Rea had child pornography at his home.
Soom after, an agent with the Cyber Crimes Unit went with a Saline County probation officer on a visit to Rea's home on Sutton Road in Bauxite. That's where investigators say they found multiple images of child pornography on a laptop computer and seized it as electronic evidence for analysis at the Cyber Crimes Unit Forensic Lab in Little Rock.
*A Level 3 sex offender is considered to have a high risk of re-offending.
