LITTLE ROCK – A Franklin County man was arrested for possession of child pornography Thursday, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel announced.
Kenneth Gene Mendenhall, 38, of Altus, was arrested Thursday following an investigation by the AG’s Cyber Crimes Unit.
Franklin County Judge Bill Pearson found probable cause to charge Mendenhall with six counts of distributing, possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, a Class C felony.
Mendenhall was being held in the Franklin County Detention Center in lieu of $30,000 bond.
Agents from the Attorney General’s Office served a search warrant at Mendenhall’s residence. Mendenhall was arrested after admitting to investigators that he was in possession of child pornography on a laptop computer.
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Two laptop computers, a desktop computer and other seized electronic evidence will be analyzed at the Cyber Crimes Unit Forensic Lab in Little Rock.
Special Agent Wes Baxter of the Attorney General’s Office began an investigation into Mendenhall earlier this month after suspecting that child pornography was being possessed at Mendenhall’s residence.
“The dedicated law enforcement professionals who work in our Cyber Crimes Unit are committed to investigating and arresting those in our State who victimize children through engaging in this type of criminal activity,” McDaniel said. “We look forward to presenting this case in court, and we will continue to work to protect Arkansas’s most vulnerable citizens.”
The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the investigation and arrest. The Attorney General’s Office will turn over the completed case file to Fifth Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney David Gibbons.