FORT SMITH - Attorney General Dustin McDaniel announced today the arrest of Manuel Garza-Juarez, 44, of Barling, for possession of child pornography.
On June 29, agents with the Attorney General's Office executed a search warrant at Garza-Juarez's residence, 906 P St., in Barling, where they seized four desktop computers and several compact discs. At the time of the search, images of child pornography were discovered. The seized electronic evidence is undergoing further forensic examination at the Cyber Crimes Unit forensic lab of the Attorney General's Office in Little Rock.
The Attorney General's Cyber Crimes Unit began investigating Garza-Juarez after agents suspected that child pornography was being possessed at Garza-Juarez's address. It is the first arrest for the Unit, which launched in May.
During the execution of the search warrant, it was discovered that Garza-Juarez, aka Manual Jesus Suarez, had been previously deported due to felony convictions, including attempted murder, in Illinois. He was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"I pledged to make this Unit work to protect Arkansas's children and families," McDaniel said. "This is not just our first case, but this is a major arrest with extremely serious charges. I am very proud of our office and thankful to Prosecuting Attorney Daniel Shue, the Barling Police Department, the Fort Smith Police Department and the Sebastian County Sheriff's Office for all of the work of the multiple offices and agencies that participated in this investigation."
McDaniel will provide the case file to Shue following completion of the forensic investigation. McDaniel deferred formal charging decisions to Shue.
"I have complete faith in Mr. Shue and his deputies," McDaniel said. "If he needs our help on the prosecution, we are available. Otherwise, we will defer to his office and move on to other investigations across the state."
A charge is merely an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty
