Fort Smith, Arkansas – David Clay Fowlkes, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, announced today that Lucas Montagne, age 33, of Holiday Island, Arkansas, was sentenced yesterday to life in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release on one count of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor via the Production of Child Pornography and a sentencing enhancement for having a prior sex conviction in which the victim was a minor. The Honorable P. K. Holmes, III presided over the sentencing hearing in the United States District Court in Fort Smith. 

According to court records, in April 2019 Homeland Security Investigations received a CyberTip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) regarding media files that contained what was believed to be images of child pornography being uploaded onto Google. The CyberTip noted that metadata from one of the image files indicated it may have been taken in February 2019 near Holiday Island, Arkansas.  

Further investigation led Investigators to Montagne’s residence in Holiday Island. A federal search warrant was sought and obtained and was executed on the residence in May 2019. During execution of the search warrant, Montagne and two minors were located inside the home.

A forensic analysis of electronics seized from the residence revealed multiple images of child pornography depicting two separate minors under the age of ten. 

Montagne was a registered sex offender having been convicted in 2013 in Montgomery County, Texas for Sexual Assault of a Child and in 2014 out of Harris County, Texas for Sexual Assault of a Child.

Montagne was indicted in June of 2019 and entered a guilty plea in October of 2019.

This case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, Eureka Springs Police Department, Arkansas State Police and Carroll County Probation and Parole.  Assistant United States Attorney Carly Marshall prosecuted the case for the United States.