SPRINGDALE : Man faces life sentence on 6 child porn charges
Posted on Thursday, August 28, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/235590/
FAYETTEVILLE — A judge found a Springdale man guilty in what the FBI said is its biggest child pornography bust in Arkansas.
U. S. District Judge Jimm L. Hendren convicted Joseph Michael Rector, 56, of six counts of receiving, producing and distributing child pornography in 2006 and 2007 during a one-day trial Wednesday.
Assistant U. S. attorney Kyra Jenner said Wednesday that the FBI found more than 194, 000 computer images and about 2, 000 pornographic videos in Rector’s home in February.
Among the evidence taken from 3049-A Braxton Ave. was an encrypted DVD of Rector molesting a 6-year-old girl, Jenner said.
The DVD was Rector’s “prized possession,” Jenner said, and while it doesn’t show his face, it shows his body, his clothes and furnishings in his home, she said.
“I won’t even tell you the name he’d given this video, your honor, as the language is too degrading, offensive and horrifying,” Jenner told Hendren.
FBI Special Agent Scott Ledford testified that agents found the external hard drive of Rector’s computer in a custom-fitted hole inside a wall under his bathroom sink.
Ledford said when agents confronted Rector with the evidence, he rubbed his forehead and swore out loud.
“He said his life was over, and that his family would never forgive him,” Ledford testified. “He said his company would be destroyed, and that no one would want to hire him again.”
Rector owned Arkansas Home Elevators.
A jury was going to hear Rector’s case Monday, but he asked that Hendren decide it instead.
Rector changed his mind about 10: 30 a. m. Monday after dozens of jury candidates had assembled in the courtroom for jury selection.
Hendren sent the candidates home, and trial began about 11 a. m.
On Monday, Rector backed out of a plea agreement that would have capped any prison sentence at 30 years. He now faces a sentence of up to life in prison.
Also Monday, Rector asked Hendren to appoint an attorney to replace his current lawyer, Thomas Barton Smith of Fayetteville.
Rector complained that Smith, who is his second attorney, isn’t experienced enough. But Hendren reminded Rector he is the one who picked Smith.
Rector’s first attorney was Jeff Watson of Springdale.
“You can fire Mr. Smith if you want,” Hendren said at a hearing Monday. “But he helped secure this proposed plea arrangement, and it looks pretty good to me.”
Rector, a thin man, wore his long gray hair in a neat ponytail Wednesday. Two of his sons were in court for the trial.
An affidavit in the case states a source told the FBI that Rector had been supplying him with child pornography for several years.
The source, who isn’t named in the affidavit, said Rector confided that he’d “produced” pornography by molesting the girl and filming it.
The girl’s mother testified Monday that her daughter told her after Rector assaulted her.
“She said he put her on the Internet, on his computer,” the woman said, crying.
She and her daughter moved in with Rector while she was broke and trying to break an addiction to crack cocaine.
“I thought he was going to help us,” she testified.
The defense called no witnesses.
Sentencing will be at a later date.