CAMDEN — By PATRIC FLANNIGAN
Staff writer
An area man was recently arrested for possessing and distributing nude images of children who appeared to be between the ages of eight and 16.
According to information found in criminal filings at the Ouachita County Courthouse, Scott Tedder, 46, of 156 International in East Camden, was arrested on June 1, 2017, for 21 counts of distributing, possessing or viewing of matter depicting sexually-explicit conduct involving a child.
However, information about the case was not made public until July.
An affidavit filled out by Arkansas State Police Agent Terrie Smith states that the investigation began more than two years ago when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a Cyber Tip Line report from Google on April 11, 2015. The affidavit states that pornographic images were captured and uploaded to Google Drive from an AT&T U-Verse account. After obtaining information from AT&T, it was discovered that the account belonged to Tedder, along with his accompanying address, email, and cell number.
The account also included a file named “highonsamsung” with images sent from Google that appeared to be an under-aged female lying face down naked with her body posed in a seductive manner.
Another image appeared to be an under-aged female having sex on a bed.
A search warrant for the residence of Tedder was originally signed on June 24, 2015, but due to other issues getting a computer forensic team to assist with the search warrant, the warrant expired.
After speaking with the ASP Cyber Crimes Unit, they advised Smith that even though it had been several months since the images were downloaded, that they would still be able to retrieve the images from the computer hard drive, according to the affidavit.
On March 4, 2016, a search warrant for the residence of Tedder was obtained. It was served on April 7, 2016.
A team from the ASPCCU helped conduct the search during which time a computer and several hard drives were taken as evidence. A forensic search of the computer and hard drives was conducted by ASPCC Agent Brandon Lofton, who reportedly recovered many sexually-explicit photographs of women and men, states the affidavit. Agents viewed the photographs and observed at least 21 photos depicting girls who appeared to be between eight and 16 years of age.
On April 5, 2017, Smith received a CCU forensic disk that contained the above-mentioned images from Lofton after he had completed his examination of the evidence provided to him from Tedder’s residence.
An arrest warrant was signed by Circuit Judge Hamilton Singleton on May 19, 2017.Documents show that Tedder’s bail was set at $10,000 and that his father bailed him out of jail around two hours after Tedder was taken into custody by the Ouachita County Sheriff Department with the restriction of good behavior.