Former Harding student Jacob Ardrey was sentenced to seven years of probation on Nov. 30 after he negotiated a guilty plea to 30 counts of distributing and possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, a Class C felony.
Ardrey must register as a sex offender and attend mental health counseling per his probation officer as a part of the probation special conditions and pay a $2,000 fine. This was Ardrey’s first offense.
Special Agent Mike McNeill of the Arkansas State Police wrote in an affidavit that Adobe Systems Incorporated reported a cyber tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The tip recorded 64 documents of possible child pornography uploaded and sent to Ardrey’s university email address, and McNeill received the tip from the Arkansas State Police Cyber Crimes Unit on Feb. 26.
A warrant was issued for Ardrey’s arrest on April 18.
