FAYETTEVILLE -- A Tontitown man was sentenced Friday to 50 years in prison without the possibility of parole on two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor via production of child pornography.
Joshua Paul Brown, 32, was indicted by a grand jury in November and pleaded guilty to the charges in February, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Arkansas.
FBI agents began investigating in July upon receiving information regarding an exchange between a person in Florida and a person in Tontitown of child sexual abuse material, which led the FBI to Brown, according to the release.
A search warrant executed at Brown's residence, and subsequent forensic examination of the electronics taken from the home, revealed Brown had produced multiple videos of child sexual abuse material with a minor, the release stated.
The Benton County Sheriff's Office and Tontitown Police Department also investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Carly Marshall prosecuted the case. Judge Timothy Brooks presided over the sentencing hearing in the U.S. District Court in Fayetteville.
This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice, according to the release.