An Arkansas State Police investigation beginning over a year ago into child pornography has resulted in the arrest of a Lakeview man. Twenty-three-year-old Mason Wren was booked into the Baxter County Detention Center Monday on 10 felony counts of distributing, possessing or viewing of matter depicting sexually-explicit conduct involving a child and released less than a half hour later on his own recognizance.
According to the probable cause affidavit, a Criminal Investigation Division special agent from the Harrison office says he received an email from another agent in June 2018 advising he downloaded child pornography using law enforcement software from a suspect internet protocol (IP) address in the Twin Lakes Area. A subpoena was requested for the physical address, and it came back to a residence on Boat Dock Road in Lakeview.
A search warrant was executed at the end of last July at the residence, and authorities encountered Wren and two other individuals reported to be his father and stepmother. The agent explained why he was there and asked if anyone knew what “bit torrent” was, and Wren reportedly put his head down and confirmed he did. His computer equipment was seized from his upstairs bedroom.
Wren reportedly admitted to using bit torrent and removing it from his computer two days earlier. When the agent asked if anything was on Wren’s computer that shouldn’t be, he said it may have some zip files. Wren denied having stored the files on an external hard drive or his phone. He also said had been using bit torrent for a week, but the agent said the state police downloaded it from him a month earlier.
Another search warrant was executed for the seized equipment in September at the Homeland Security Office in Fayetteville. A task force officer allegedly located 87 images and eight videos containing child-explicit material.
Wren is slated to appear in Baxter County Circuit Court next week.
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