LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge today announced the conviction of David Jefferson Brown of Benton on 4 counts of distributing, possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, a class C felony. Brown pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections. Ten years were suspended conditioned on good behavior. Upon release he is required to register as a sex offender.
“Brown admitted guilt for his unforgiveable actions and now we can revel in one less predator roaming the streets,” said Attorney General Leslie Rutledge. “Each time these horrific photos are shared by these predators, the children are revictimized. My office is doing everything it can to put a stop to these horrendous crimes.”
Brown, 46, turned himself in to the Saline County Jail in June 2020 after agents from the Attorney General’s Cyber Crime Unit discovered sexually explicit files shared by him through a peer to peer network. Agents seized and provided forensic analysis of a computer hard drive, flash drive and a cell phone from the residence that was then turned over to Saline County Prosecutor Chris Walton once it was completed.
Brown pleaded guilty before Saline County Circuit Court Judge Josh Farmer and was prosecuted by Saline County Prosecutor Chris Walton and Senior Assistant Attorney General Marianne Satterfield.
About Attorney General Leslie Rutledge
Leslie Carol Rutledge is the 56th Attorney General of Arkansas. Elected on November 4, 2014, and sworn in on January 13, 2015, she is the first woman and first Republican in Arkansas history to be elected as Attorney General. She was resoundingly re-elected on November 6, 2018. Since taking office, she has significantly increased the number of arrests and convictions against online predators who exploit children and con artists who steal taxpayer money through Social Security Disability and Medicaid fraud. Further, she has held Rutledge Roundtable meetings and Mobile Office hours in every county of the State each year, and launched a Military and Veterans Initiative. She has led efforts to roll back government regulations that hurt job creators, fight the opioid epidemic, teach internet safety, combat domestic violence and make the office the top law firm for Arkansans. Rutledge serves on committees for Consumer Protection, Criminal Law and Veterans Affairs for the National Association of Attorneys General. She also served as the former Chairwoman of the Republican Attorneys General Association.
A native of Batesville, she is a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law. Rutledge clerked for the Arkansas Court of Appeals, was Deputy Counsel for former Governor Mike Huckabee, served as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in Lonoke County and was an Attorney at the Department of Human Services before serving as Counsel at the Republican National Committee. Rutledge and her husband, Boyce, have one daughter. The family has a home in Pulaski County and a farm in Crittenden County.