Montana fugitive gets 15 years for transporting child pornography to Arkansas

TEXARKANA, Ark. — A Montana registered sex offender was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison Wednesday for transporting child pornography across state lines while attempting to elude authorities seeking him for probation violations pertaining to a prior child pornography conviction. The sentence follows an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Parmer oversees a five-state region including Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.

According to court documents, Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism officers encountered John Malcolm Nealy, 66, of Florence, Mont., in Arkansas's White Oak State Park on Sept. 3, 2012. Nealy had a stolen license plate on his vehicle at the time and was a fugitive wanted for violating the terms of his release for a prior federal child pornography possession conviction in Montana.

HSI investigators searched Nealy's vehicle upon his arrest and located more than 60 videos of child pornography on computer equipment and memory cards in his possession. Some of the videos contained sadistic and masochistic depictions of violence toward children.

"This case is extremely disturbing due to the fact that this defendant had already been convicted of a similar crime in another state and instead of being rehabilitated or learning a lesson from his prior conviction, he chose to continue his illicit behavior progressing into viewing images that were even more disturbing and more violent, said Western District of Arkansas U.S. Attorney Conner Eldridge. "These innocent children will forever be victimized by these images. This defendant was brought to justice, and we will continue to work aggressively to prosecute these types of cases to the fullest extent of the law for the sake of these innocent children."

Nealy pleaded guilty to one count of transporting child pornography April 15. As part of his guilty plea Nealy admitted he fled Montana to avoid arrest for violating the conditions of his release.

In addition to the 15-year prison term, U.S. District Judge Harry Barnes ordered Nealy to serve the sentence without any chance of parole. Nealy is also subject to a lifetime of supervised release following the completion of his sentence.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Quinn prosecuted the case for the government.

This investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide HSI initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers. HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).

HSI is a founding member and the U.S. representative of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.