Man arrested on charge of rape and sexual grooming in Saline County

A Conway man is in the Saline County Jail with charges of rape and sexually grooming a child. The bond is set at $100,000.

In January 2022, a report was called in to the Arkansas State Police Child Abuse Hotline regarding a sexual assault, according to Capt. Shamlin of the Saline County Sheriff’s Office. He stated that the victim was initially interviewed by the Faulkner County Sheriff’s Criminal Investigation Division regarding the incidents.

During a forensic interview, it was determined that some of the alleged incidents occurred in Saline County where David Freeman, age 56, lived at the time.

After gathering all available information, authorities forwarded the file to the Saline County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for review. From there, warrants were written for Freeman in Saline County.

Saline County Deputies arrested Freeman at his job in Little Rock on Monday October 10, 2022. He was transported to the Detention Center and charged on the warrants with Rape and Sexual Grooming.

The details:

DAVID FREEMAN
Booking #: 18648
Age: 56
Gender: M
Race: W
Address: CONWAY, AR
Arresting Agency: Saline County Sheriff’s Office – Benton – AR0630000
Booking Date: 10-10-2022 – 9:24 pm
Charges: SEXUALLY GROOMING A CHILD
Rape – Class Y – FELONY
Bond: $100,000.00

See Arkansas law below that led SCSO to arrest Freeman:

Arkansas Code Title 5. Criminal Offenses § 5-27-307. Sexually grooming a child

(a) As used in this section, “disseminates” means to allow to view, expose, furnish, present, sell, or otherwise distribute.

(b) A person commits sexually grooming a child if he or she knowingly disseminates to a child thirteen (13) years of age or younger with or without consideration a visual or print medium depicting sexually explicit conduct with the purpose to entice, induce, or groom the child thirteen (13) years of age or younger to engage in the following with a person:

(1) Sexual intercourse;

(2) Sexually explicit conduct; or

(3) Deviate sexual activity.

(1) Class D felony if the actor is twenty-one (21) years of age or older; or

(2) Class A misdemeanor if the actor is younger than twenty-one (21) years of age.

(d) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this section that the actor was not more than three (3) years older than the victim.

(e) It is not a defense to prosecution under this section that the actor does not know the age of the child or believes the child is fourteen (14) years of age or older.