John Preston Anthony
A Benton man received a 50-year prison sentence for charges associated with child pornography.
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John Preston Anthony, age 33, pled guilty to two counts of distributing, possessing, or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child. Judge Ken Casady sentenced Anthony to 600 months in the Arkansas Department of Corrections. Casady was moments away from empaneling a Saline County jury to hear the case when Anthony decided to change his pleas from not guilty to guilty on Thursday morning. Casady thanked the potential jurors for their service and remarked that their mere presence at the courthouse help to move the case along.
In the summer of 2022, the Benton Police Department suspected Mr. Anthony in a number of break ins and thefts in downtown Benton. At the time, Anthony was living on Cross Street. Det. Christopher Benham obtained a warrant to search Anthony’s phone. Benham wanted the phone’s location data to place Anthony at the scenes of the break ins and thefts. While searching the phone, Benham located a video and a number of images of child pornography.
At the time of the plea, Anthony was serving a 180 month prison sentence for breaking or entering, commercial burglary, and possession of controlled substance. Anthony has previous convictions for theft, burglary, evading arrest, and criminal mischief from Texas from 2011 to 2021.
Prosecuting Attorney Chris Walton commended the efforts of Det. Benham and the Benton Police Department. Walton stated, “Det. Benham had the unpleasant task of locating child pornography on Anthony’s phone. Benham not only obtained video and images from the phone, but also sought records from Google and Microsoft to assist in the successful prosecution of Anthony. This kind of trash cannot be tolerated. Videos and images of child pornography are child abuse, pure and simple.” In addition to his prison sentence, Anthony will be required to register as a sex offender.