BENTONVILLE -- A Pea Ridge man is accused of being the moderator of at least two chat rooms for pedophiles, according to court documents filed Tuesday in Benton County Circuit Court.
Robert Sterling Hanlon, 41, was arrested last week on 20 counts of distributing, possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, trafficking a controlled substance and two counts of possession of methamphetamine, heroin or cocaine with purpose to deliver.
Rogers police started investigating last month after receiving a report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children concerning someone uploading 40 videos containing apparent child pornography, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Police obtained the user's internet protocol address and traced the images to Hanlon, the affidavit says.
Rogers detectives and members of the FBI's child exploitation task force searched Hanlon's home and seized his cellphone, the affidavit says. It says an examination of the phone found Hanlon was sending and receiving child sexual abuse images and videos within a chat application.
Police learned he was the administrator or moderator of a minimum of two private groups on the application involved in exchanging child sex abuse materials, the affidavit says.
The affidavit says Hanlon posted a comment in a group chat asking members to contribute, or he was going to remove them.
Police also found multiple types of suspected narcotics when searching his home, the affidavit says.