A Bentonville man faces 20 counts of child pornography charges following a lengthy investigation by the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office, the attorney general announced Thursday.
Police arrested Joshua Ivan Howard, 38, on Wednesday on suspicion of 20 counts of distributing, possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, a Class C felony, according to Attorney General Dustin McDaniel’s office. Howard was released Thursday morning from the Benton County Jail on $15,000 bond, according to the Benton County Sheriff’s Office.
State agents confiscated computers, electronic storage devices and other electronic equipment containing more than 1,300 images of child pornography during a search of Howard’s home last July, according to the Attorney General’s Office. Investigators in Little Rock had begun an investigation into Howard the previous month after suspecting that Howard was in possession of child pornography.
The Benton County Sheriff’s Office and the Bentonville Police Department assisted in the investigation. The Attorney General’s Office stated it plans to turn the case over to the Benton County Prosecutor’s Office.
