LITTLE ROCK — Sidney Perry told police he never told anyone about his “problem” until federal, Little Rock and Maumelle investigators confronted him with a search warrant.
Perry, 18, was arrested Wednesday after a five month child-pornography investigation that originated with Little Rock detectives and went on to involve Maumelle police and Secret Service agents.
The Maumelle man was charged with one count of distributing, possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, a Class C felony, punishable by up to10 years in prison.
When officers entered his home at 140 Miramar Drive on Nov. 15, Perry “spoke up and advised that he was the one we were looking for,” a police affidavit said.
Detectives wrote that Perry admitted to using a peer-to-peer file-sharing program called FrostWire to download child-pornography videos.
He told investigators he “knew that he had a problem, having strange desires, thoughts and urges ... and learned that he was a ‘hebephile’,” a person with sexual preference for individuals in the early stages of puberty, the affidavit said.
Perry said he knew what he was doing was illegal and that police were probably monitoring his activity, but it didn’t stop him, detectives noted.
Perry told detectives that “his ‘problem’ is probably the root cause of all his issues such as dropping out of school, drug use,” the affidavit said.
Little Rock police spokesman Lt. Terry Hastings said Perry’s young age was “unusual” for this kind of offense, but that it shows how offenders can be drawn into such behavior.
“It’s sad that this young man has really just messed his life up based on looking at pornographic pictures of kids,” Hastings said. “Especially when he’s just a kid himself.”
According to arrest affidavits, Little Rock detectives came upon Perry’s parents’ internet protocol address using and sharing files that were connected with other child pornography investigations.
Agents from the Secret Service seized Perry’s computer and reported finding 11 illegal videos downloaded between late October and mid-November.
Even though Perry admitted his actions to investigators in November, Hastings said local law enforcement had to wait for the Secret Service to conclude its forensic examinations of the evidence.
“It has to be done properly, the right documents have to be analyzed thoroughly,” Hastings said. “[These cases] take some time, it’s not an overnight process like someone who’s committed assault.”
Perry was booked into Pulaski County jail Wednesday but was later released on a $15,000 bond.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 04/08/2011