McDaniel announces cyber crimes conviction

A Sharp County man arrested in January by agents with the Attorney General’s Office pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 50 years in prison on child pornography charges, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel announced.


Ricky G. Rothenberger, 46, of Cave City, pleaded guilty to five counts of distributing, possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child. Sharp County Circuit Judge Harold Erwin sentenced Rothenberger to 10 years in prison on each count, with the sentences to be served consecutively.


Through the work of agents in our Cyber Crimes Unit, along with law enforcement agents in Sharp County, this man was brought to justice and will no longer be a threat to our children and families,” McDaniel said. “We remain committed to arrests and prosecutions of those people who would exploit our most innocent citizens through Internet crime.”


Agents with the Cyber Crimes Unit began investigating Rothenberger in October after suspecting that child pornography was being possessed at Rothenberger’s address. A search warrant was executed at Rothenberger’s residence, 311 Charleston, Lot No. 8, in Cave City.


A forensic examination of electronic evidence seized from the residence indicated that Rothenberger was in possession of nearly 300 images of child pornography. The evidence, including a desktop computer, was analyzed at the Cyber Crimes Unit Forensic Lab in Little Rock.


McDaniel said he was grateful for the work of Third Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Henry Boyce, the Sharp County Sheriff’s Office and Cave City Police Department for assistance in the investigation, arrest and conviction.


Rothenberger is currently being held in the Sharp County Detention Center awaiting transfer to the Arkansas Department of Correction.


As a condition of his guilty plea, Rothenberger will be required to register as a sex offender.


Rothenberger’s conviction is the third for the Attorney General’s Cyber Crimes Unit, which launched last May.