FAYETTEVILLE -- A former Bentonville resident was sentenced to more than two years in federal prison Thursday for looking at child pornography on the Internet, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Edgar Carlstrom, 33, of Keizer, Ore., was sentenced to 52 months in federal prison followed by 10 years of supervised release on one count of accessing the Internet with the intent to view child pornography by U.S. District Judge Tim Brooks. Carlstrom also was ordered to pay a $3,500 fine.
The Northwest Arkansas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force received information in September 2014 from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that a user profile had uploaded pictures depicting child pornography to a Google account. The account was traced to a residence in Bentonville occupied in part by Carlstrom.
Agents seized three laptop computers, an external hard drive, a USB drive and three memory cards in the bedroom. Carlstrom provided computer passwords to the agents and admitted to downloading child pornography.
A search of the computers and hard drives yielded more than 1,000 images and three videos containing child pornography in which some of the children were younger than 12. Carlstrom was indicted by a federal grand jury July 15 and pleaded guilty to the charge Feb. 5.
"Child sexual abuse leaves lasting scars on victims and the criminals who view images of this abuse are directly responsible for supporting the spread of these illegal images," said Raymond R. Parmer Jr., special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New Orleans.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Denis Dean prosecuted the case.
NW News on 05/14/2016