Little Rock - Jane W. Duke, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, announced today the sentencing of James Linthicum of Killeen, Texas. On February 28, 2008, Linthicum pled guilty to one count of production of child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a), one count of possession of child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. §2252A(a)(5)(B) and (b)(2), and agreed to forfeit a camera which was listed in the Indictment. The one count of possession of child pornography was from a case which had been transferred to the Eastern District of Arkansas from the Western District of Texas. The reason for the transfer was due to the fact that the charges arose from the same investigation.

Today, the Honorable James M. Moody sentenced the defendant to 298 months incarceration, 10 years supervised release, no fine, and a $100 special penalty assessment on each count. Special conditions placed on the defendant include undergoing mental health counseling and treatment, sex offender registration, no internet access, and no contact with minor children without the express consent of the probation office. The sentence imposed is to run concurrent to an undischarged state sentence the defendant is now serving due to the fact that the conduct in both the federal and state cases overlapped and concerned the same victim. After imposing sentence, Judge Moody remanded the defendant back into custody. The defendant is currently incarcerated at the Arkansas Department of Correction for his state court conviction out of Randolph County for rape and sexual assault for which he was sentenced to a total of 480 months imprisonment.

Linthicum’s conviction and sentence stem from conduct which occurred between August and November 2006 with a victim who was six years of age. The defendant who was stationed at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas while in the Army, was friends with the victim’s parents who resided in Randolph County, Arkansas with the victim and her older sister. The defendant stayed at the victim’s house on many occasions between August and November 2006. On some of those occasions, he had sexual contact with the victim. In addition, he took the victim, her sister, and another child to Texas on at least one occasion and engaged in sexual contact with the victim while in Texas.

The defendant was arrested on November 9, 2006 in Randolph County, Arkansas. At the time of his arrest, he was in possession of a Sony Digital Camera containing pornographic images of the victim which had been taken in the State of Arkansas and in the State of Texas. The defendant agreed to forfeit that camera as part of his plea.

After his arrest in Arkansas, a search warrant was obtained for Mr. Linthicum’s residence in Texas, and computer equipment was seized. A forensic examination of that equipment revealed child pornography separate and apart from the images he produced. These images included pictures of minors under the age of 12 and conduct involving sadistic or masochistic behavior. The defendant was in possession of over 600 child pornographic images.

Duke stated, “The United States Attorney’s Office is committed to aggressively prosecuting cases involving the sexual exploitation of children. This case serves as a text book example of federal, state, and local authorities working together to achieve the toughest sentence possible.” Duke added, “I commend the investigators and prosecutors who have put a true child predator behind bars for a very long time.”

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Karen Whatley.

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News Release
U.S. Attorney’s Office
May 15, 2008