Benton County man gets 11+ years for child porn

A Benton County man has been sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for trying to entice underage girls into performing sexual activities via webcam.

Santosh Ram, 32, was charged after Homeland Security Investigations in January 2013 received information that a man using the online profile name "Peter Na" was masquerading as a 15-year-old and soliciting sex acts from girls he met on social-media websites, U.S. Attorney Conner Eldridge said in a statement.

A federal search warrant at Ram's home resulted in the confiscation of several computers and digital storage devices; Ram later admitted to creating the "Peter Na" profile to entice girls to perform sexual activity live via webcam, Eldridge said. One of the girls he contacted was just 11 years old, prosecutors told the court.

U.S. District Judge Jimm Larry Hendren sentenced Ram in Fayetteville on Tuesday to 11 years and three months' imprisonment without the possibility of parole; a $10,000 fine; and five years of supervised release.

"As this case exemplifies, online security and safety for minors is of the utmost importance," Eldridge said in the statement. "Victimizing innocent children is horrendous and inexcusable. This Defendant was brought to justice, and we will work even more aggressively to prosecute these types of cases to the fullest extent of the law for the sake of these innocent children.” 

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