A Berryville man was sentenced on Monday to 500 months in prison without the possibility of parole after being found guilty of traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual acts with two minor males and for distributing child pornography.
The Honorable Judge Timothy L. Brooks presided over the sentencing hearing in the U.S. District Court in Fayetteville.
In May 2022, the Arkansas FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force received a lead from the FBI Kansas City Division that a subject under investigation admitted that he was trading child pornography online with an individual later identified as 42-year-old Ricky Gunter Hilburn of Berryville and that Hilburn had even bragged about sexually abusing a minor male.
A search warrant was obtained and executed at Hilburn’s residence, resulting in multiple digital devices being confiscated and Hilburn being arrested. A subsequent forensic examination of the electronic devices seized from Hilburn’s residence confirmed that Hilburn was trafficking child pornography images to others online. Further investigation revealed that Hilburn had groomed two minor males in Oklahoma and would travel across state lines to engage in sexual activity with them. At sentencing, the United States Attorney’s Office presented the Court with evidence that Hilburn had groomed a third minor male and engaged in sexual contact with him on multiple occasions.
Hilburn was indicted by a Grand Jury in the Western District in March of 2023 and entered a plea of guilty in June 2023.
(Release from the Office of U.S. Attorney Western District of Arkansas)
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