Bond denied for man held in child-porn case

A Cross County man who was arrested Jan. 7 in Wynne on child pornography charges contained in an indictment from the Western District of Arkansas was denied bond this week by a federal magistrate judge and was ordered to remain in federal custody until his case is resolved.

Michael Billy Whitehead, 35, was arrested at his workplace in Wynne on three counts of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography contained in the indictment handed up by a federal grand jury in Fayetteville on Nov. 2. He has been in the Pulaski County jail since his arrest but will be transferred to Fayetteville for prosecution.

At the time of his arrest, Whitehead was serving a term of 10 years of supervised release for a 2012 child pornography conviction. Sentenced to eight years, he was released from federal prison Aug. 28, 2019.

If convicted on the new charges, he faces an enhanced sentencing range of 15-40 years in federal prison.

Whitehead’s attorney, William Daniel Shelton Jr. with the Federal Public Defenders Office in Little Rock, argued Tuesday for pretrial release for his client, outlining a plan for Whitehead to stay with a family member in Parkin.

Gerald Faulkner, a Homeland Security Investigations agent out of Fayetteville, outlined the case against Whitehead, which began in January 2020 when investigators flagged an IP address located in Northwest Arkansas that was sharing images of child pornography over a peer-to-peer file sharing network.

Faulkner said that during a 14-week period from September 2019 through the following January, investigators detected some 61 files being shared through the network from the IP address, which he said was later traced back to Whitehead.

Faulkner said during a Feb. 10, 2020 search of a Fayetteville apartment where Whitehead was living with a friend, investigators seized a cellphone and a laptop computer that a forensic examination revealed contained 15 images and 18 videos depicting child sexual abuse.

“When did that IP address that you relate to him begin sharing child pornography?” Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristin Bryant asked.

“Give or take, approximately 15 days from his release [from prison],” Faulkner said.

Faulkner said Whitehead is also being investigated in Central Arkansas after 96 images flagged as suspicious came from an IP address traced to a Days Inn motel in Wynne, where Whitehead was employed at the time of his arrest.

Whitehead’s attorney, William Daniel Shelton argued for pretrial release, noting that Whitehead was not indicted for nearly two years after he was placed under investigation and was not arrested until two months after he was indicted.

“There’s no allegation here of any kind of a hands-on offense,” Shelton said. “There’s no allegation here that Mr. Whitehead tried to run, even though he knew he was under investigation for quite a while.”

Arguing for detention, Bryant pointed out the U.S. Probation Office had told her it intended to file a revocation warrant based upon Whitehead’s arrest while he was on parole. In addition, she said, Whitehead’s conduct demonstrated that he would be likely to continue his activities as long as he is out of jail.

“Within two weeks of being released from prison Mr. Whitehead was back engaging in the same activity,” Bryant said. “Then, knowing they are still watching him, he’s still downloading and making available child pornography in 2021 … he clearly shows that nothing is going to stop Mr. Whitehead.”

Citing Whitehead’s continued conduct while under court supervision, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jerome Kearney ordered him to remain in federal custody until his case is resolved.