Paragould Man Faces 40 Child Sexual Abuse Material Charges

PARAGOULD, Ark. – A man is accused of dozens of charges of possessing child sexual abuse material after an investigation in Paragould.

The probable cause affidavit states that the Jonesboro Police Department Internet Crimes Against Children Division was conducting an online investigation of file sharing for known images of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Several downloads of CSAM were completed from an IP address that was traced back to Oakdale Street in Paragould.

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On April 12, authorities obtained a search warrant and executed it at the address on Oakdale. Detectives reported finding an external hard drive connected to a desktop computer. The affidavit says “several files of interest as well as child sexual abuse material were located on the device.”

Allegedly, the defendant admitted he does have a collection of CSAM and he had started looking at it out of “curiosity.”

Also during the search, authorities found a small clear bag containing 1.5 grams of suspected meth in the living room.

Ian Center, 50, of Paragould, was arrested on 40 Class C felony counts of possessing sexually explicit conduct involving a child and one Class D felony count of possession of a controlled substance.

Judge Dan Stidham found probable cause existed to charge Center. His bond was set at $500,000 cash only.

All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.