On October 7, 2025, Leon Settle of Diamond City, Arkansas, pled guilty and was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison to be followed by 20 years of federal probation for Access with Intent to View Child Pornography. The Honorable Timothy L. Brooks presided over the sentencing hearing, which was held in the U.S. District Court in Fayetteville.
According to documents, Leon Settle, age 56 at the time, used the internet with the intent to view child pornography by means of electronic devices. Settle came to light after a CyberTip was submitted to the Benton County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation of Fayetteville by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). Due to the location of the suspect, this CyberTip was referred to the Harrison Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) of Fayetteville task force officer (TFO) for criminal investigation. A Harrison Police Department detective, who is an HSI-TFO, became the primary investigator on this criminal investigation.
When interviewed by the Harrison Police Department’s HSI-TFO, Settle admitted to viewing child pornographic images. The HSI-TFO discovered intentionally explicit and specific internet searches for child pornography and over 450 child pornographic images embedded within multiple devices; this included prepubescent children. Settle was indicted by a Grand Jury in the Western District of Arkansas, and he later entered a plea of guilty in March 2025. Settle was a substitute teacher, a process server, a former bondsman, a former corrections officer in Arkansas, and reportedly a former law enforcement officer in Arizona.
The Homeland Security Investigations of Fayetteville, the Boone County Sheriff’s Office, and the Harrison Police Department were involved in this case. Assistant U.S. 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 at www.pacer.gov.