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Benton Area Chamber of Commerce

July 5, 2022 By Shelli Poole

Benton man arrested and charged with 53 counts of child porn

by

A Benton man faces a long list of child pornography charges after his internet service provider tipped off law enforcement.

On the morning of Friday, July 1, 2022, Detectives with the Saline County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force arrested a Benton man on charges of possession of child pornography. Jacob Dylon Tidwell, age 22, was taken into custody without incident. He was charged with 53 counts of distributing, possessing, or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, a Class C Felony (See below for Arkansas State Statute 5-27-602).

Tidwell has been the suspect in an ongoing investigation involving the possession of child pornography through an online service provider. Sheriff Rodney Wright wants the citizens of Saline County to know that the Saline County Sheriff’s Office is dedicated to protecting children online and investigating crimes committed against children which are facilitated by the Internet and computer usage.

See Arkansas law below that led SCSO to arrest Tidwell:

5-27-602. Distributing, possessing, or viewing of matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child.

(a) A person commits distributing, possessing, or viewing of matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child if the person knowingly:

(1) Receives for the purpose of selling or knowingly sells, procures, manufactures, gives, provides, lends, trades, mails, delivers, transfers, publishes, distributes, circulates, disseminates, presents, exhibits, advertises, offers, or agrees to offer through any means, including the internet, any photograph, film, videotape, computer program or file, video game, or any other reproduction or reconstruction that depicts a child or incorporates the image of a child engaging in sexually explicit conduct; or

(2) Possesses or views through any means, including on the internet, any photograph, film, videotape, computer program or file, computer-generated image, video game, or any other reproduction that depicts a child or incorporates the image of a child engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

(b) Distributing, possessing, or viewing of matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child is a:

(1) Class C felony for the first offense; and

(2) Class B felony for any subsequent offense.

(c) It is an affirmative defense to a prosecution under this section that the defendant in good faith reasonably believed that the person depicted in the matter was seventeen (17) years of age or older.