Fayetteville, Arkansas - Duane (DAK) Kees, United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, announced that Cherokee Steward, age 24, of Gentry, Arkansas was sentenced today to 168 months in federal prison without the possibility of parole to be followed by twenty-five years of supervised release on two Counts of Distribution of Child Pornography. The Honorable Timothy L. Brooks, United States District Judge, presided over the sentencing hearing in Fayetteville.

According to court records, in March of 2018, federal law enforcement developed information that a Northwest Arkansas resident was distributing images of child pornography across the social media application Google Hangout. In response, a federal search warrant was obtained and executed on the residence. Upon gaining entry, law enforcement encountered Steward. During a post-Miranda interview, Steward admitted to obtaining images of child pornography online. Steward further admitted that he utilized the Google Hangout application to send images of child pornography to other users.

A federal grand jury indicted Steward in April 2018, and he pled guilty in July 2018.

This case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Northwest Arkansas Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce. Assistant United States Attorney Dustin Roberts prosecuted the case for the United States.