A man accused of creating pornographic images at a house in Foreman, Ark., has been formally indicted by a federal grand jury.
Aaron Lloyd Mitchell, 21, was indicted Thursday in the Texarkana Division of the Western District of Arkansas. The first two counts of the indictment accuse Mitchell of creating images with the 5-year-old while she was wearing “Hello Kitty” and “Doughnut” panties on different dates between Sept. 1 and Nov. 3. The third count of the indictment alleges Mitchell photographed a part of his own body with the 13-year-old asleep in the background in the same date range.
Mitchell was in a relationship with the 5-year-old’s mother and had been living with them on property in Foreman for several months. The 13-year-old is the daughter of a friend of the 5-year-old’s mother and often spent the night at the house.
FBI Agents were notified Nov. 3 by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that they had received an anonymous cyber-tip that someone was posting sexually explicit photos involving a child. The tip said the poster of the images may be currently molesting a 5-year-old as well as a 13-year-old girl.
Another tip was received Nov. 5 and appeared to contain images identical to those posted earlier. Using image analysis, officials were able to determine that the photos were taken with an iPhone 7 Plus, posted online with the Tumblr app, and were able to identify the location where the photos originated.
Mitchell was arrested Nov. 21. He is currently being held in the Miller County jail.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Bryant denied a request from Mitchell’s attorney, Matthew Hill of El Dorado, Ark., following a detention hearing Nov. 30. Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wulff said at the hearing that Mitchell may be facing a minimum of 15 years in federal prison if found guilty and argued that the government’s case against him is strong.
