Santosh Ram, 32, of Benton County, was sentenced today for receiving child pornography, according to a news release from Conner Eldridge, United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas.
Ram was sentenced to 135 months in prison without the possibility of parole, a $10,000 fine, and 5 years of supervised release.
U. S. Attorney Eldridge commented, “As this case exemplifies, online security and safety for minors is of the utmost importance. 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.”
“Individuals who trade child pornography further the re-victimization of innocent children who’ve been subjected to sexual exploitation,” said HSI New Orleans Special Agent in Charge Raymond R. Parmer Jr. “This case shows HSI investigators are actively working to disrupt the trade of these illegal images, and also to identify and seek prosecution of the criminals who possess them.”
Parmer supervises a five-state region including, Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee.
“According to documents filed in the case, in January 2013, Homeland Security Investigations received information that an adult male utilizing the online profile name of “Peter Na” was portraying himself as fifteen-year old and soliciting sexual acts from minor females on Facebook and other internet based social media sites,” the news release stated.
The release continued, “Based on the resulting investigation, a federal search warrant was executed at Ram’s residence, which resulted in the confiscation of several computers and digital storage devices. During a post-Miranda interview, Ram admitted to creating and using the “Peter Na” profile in order to entice minors to engage in sexual activity live by using a webcam. At sentencing, the Government presented the Court with information that at least one of the minors contacted by Ram for purposes of sexual conduct was only eleven (11) years of age.”
