Christopher Clayborn of Mountain Home was given 15 years in prison after pleading no contest to several counts of distributing, possession or viewing child porn during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.
The investigation into the case was launched in late March when a tip was received from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children advising images of child pornography were uploaded to a specific Internet Protocol (IP) address which was then traced back to Clayborn.
A search warrant was executed, and a laptop computer and cellphone were seized. The computer and cellphone were both associated with the 44-year-old Clayborn.
Investigators found 28 pictures were located on the cellphone, and 425 images of child pornography were found on Clayborn’s computer.
Evidence was taken to the Arkansas Crime Laboratory in Little Rock on May 8th to be examined. In late June, the lab reported files of possibly evidentiary value had been recovered.
Clayborn was represented by Mountain Home Attorney Paul Bayless. Bayless told the court his client did not contest three of the images found during the examination of the cellphone and computer, but would mount a defense against any attempt to tie Clayborn to all of the images found during the Arkansas Crime Laboratory’s examination.
Circuit Judge John Putman sentenced Clayborn to five years in prison on each of the three counts to which he entered the no contest plea, with the time to run consectively, meaning 15 years in total.
Bayless said he had been in discussions with his client for several months regarding the case, including going over the options Clayborn had, and it was determined that making a no contest plea to the three counts was in his client’s best interest.
Clayborn will be required to register as a sex offender.
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