EL DORADO – A Smackover, Arkansas man was sentenced on March 19, 2025, to 180 months in prison without the possibility of parole for receiving child pornography. The Honorable Chief Judge Susan O. Hickey presided over the sentencing hearing, which was held in the U.S. District Court in El Dorado.
According to court documents, Eric David Ponder, age 46, used an online peer-to-peer program to download child pornography to two different electronic devices. Ponder’s crime came to light when an Ozark Police detective discovered illegal online activity from Ponder’s use of the peer-to-peer program. El Dorado Police detectives and agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation then served a search warrant at Ponder’s residence and discovered the two devices Ponder used to access and receive child pornography.
In 2014, Ponder was convicted for Distributing, Possessing, or Viewing Sexually Explicit Conduct Involving a Child in Benton County, Arkansas, and was sentenced to five years in the Arkansas Department of Correction. Ponder was a registered sex offender when he committed the federal offense.
Ponder was indicted by a Grand Jury in the Western District of Arkansas in March of 2024 and entered a plea of guilty in September of 2024.
U.S. Attorney Clay Fowlkes of the Western District of Arkansas made the announcement.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, El Dorado Police Department, Ozark Police Department, and Smackover Police Department investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Devon Still and Trent Daniels 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.
