EL DORADO – A Warren, Arkansas man was sentenced on September 24, 2026, to 210 months in federal prison to be followed by 20 years of supervised release for administering two online groups for receipt and distribution of child pornography. The Honorable John Thomas Shepherd presided over the sentencing hearing, which was held in the U.S. District Court in El Dorado.
According to court documents, Jerry Lee McGhan, age 31, uploaded images and videos depicting child pornography to an internet-based storage platform through two separate chatrooms, which sparked CyberTipline Reports by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that were later transferred to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. During the same period, an online covert operation captured child pornography being traded within one of the chatrooms. The resulting investigation revealed McGhan to be one of the administrators for both groups. McGhan was indicted by a Grand Jury in the Western District of Arkansas in July of 2025 and entered a plea of guilty in March of 2026.
United States Attorney Kevin R. Holmes of the Western District of Arkansas made the announcement. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, El Dorado Police Department, and Arkansas State Police investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Devon Still prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.
This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
Related court documents may be found on the Public Access to Electronic Records website atwww.pacer.gov.
