A Newton County man, 19-year-old Nathanuel Hauser, has been arrested and charged with five felony counts of distributing, possessing, or viewing of matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child.
According to the probable cause affidavit filed May 1, the arrest follows an investigation by the Arkansas State Police’s Criminal Investigation Division.
The investigation was initiated after a visit to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office in late January from the mother of a 12-year-old girl. The woman reported her daughter had been communicating with a 19-year-old male, later identified as Hauser, while using a Snap cellphone belonging to the juvenile’s grandmother.
The 12-year-old allegedly said she had exchanged explicit images with Hauser through the Snapchat app.
In an interview, Hauser reportedly said he had conversations with the juvenile, and she had sent him explicit pictures on his phone. He also allegedly told law enforcement his phone contained explicit images of his 15-year-old girlfriend.
After obtaining a search warrant for Hauser’s phone, the investigator reported having located five images. Three were of the 15-year-old girlfriend, while two were of a 12-year-old female.
Online court records do not indicate the amount of Hauser’s bond.
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