State cracking down on cyber crimes

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel announced a Sebastian County man pleaded guilty to child pornography charges related to his arrest last year by agents from the Attorney General’s Office.

Manuel Garza-Juarez, 44, of Barling was sentenced to 75 years in prison after pleading eight counts of distributing, possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, a Class C felony. Sebastian County Judge Stephen Tabor handed down the sentence during a hearing today in Sebastian County Circuit Court.

“This man was a danger to our State’s most vulnerable citizens,” McDaniel said. “He victimized and exploited children. I appreciate the efforts of Cyber Crimes Unit investigators who pursued this defendant and worked to make sure he can never commit such heinous acts again.”

Garza-Juarez, aka Manuel Jesus Suarez, was the first suspect arrested by the Attorney General’s new Cyber Crimes Unit, which began operations last spring. He is the second suspect to plead guilty to Internet crimes against children. In February, a Waldron man was sentenced to 80 years in prison after pleading guilty to similar charges.

Agents with the Cyber Crimes Unit began investigating Garza-Juarez last May after agents suspected that child pornography was being possessed at his residence, 906 P St., in Barling. Garza-Juarez was arrested last July on child pornography charges and was also detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. Garza-Juarez had previously been deported from the United States because of previous felony convictions of murder, attempted murder and armed robbery in Illinois in 1989.

Agents seized four desktop computers and several compact discs from Garza-Juarez’s residence. Those items were analyzed at the Cyber Crimes Unit Forensic Lab in Little Rock and found to contain images depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child.

As a result of his conviction, Garza-Juarez will be required to register as a sex offender. He has been in custody since his arrest and will be transferred to the Arkansas Department of Correction.

Following the investigation, the Attorney General’s Office provided the case file to Sebastian County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Shue, who pursued the conviction.

“I am very appreciative of the work done by Mr. Shue’s office and by the agencies that assisted us in the investigation,” McDaniel said. “We are glad in our office to be a resource that supplements the already-exemplary work of our law enforcement agencies and prosecutors throughout the State.”