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Convicted sex offender charged again with child pornography

Posted at 6:56 PM, Jun 14, 2018
and last updated 2018-06-14 20:26:47-04

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – An Arkansas man who was convicted of possessing child pornography was arrested again for the same crime late last month, KFSM reported.

Joshua Box, 35, of Fayetteville, was indicted last week by a federal grand jury for receiving and possessing child pornography.

According to KFSM, Box is accused of receiving thousands of images and videos of child pornography on four occasions. He allegedly owned a hard drive that contained pornographic images of children under the age of 12.

Box moved to Fayetteville earlier this year. In a post on Facebook, the Washington County Sheriff's Office warned that Box was a Level 2 sex offender. At the time of the post on May 22nd, he was not wanted for any crimes. The sheriff's office said in a post on Facebook that they will only notify the public of a sex offender's release "when the release of such information will enhance public safety and protection."

Box was previously convicted of possession of child pornography back in August of 2015, court records show.

He is due in court to face the new charges in August.

WJW reached out to the Washington County Sheriff's Office to find out how Box suffered his facial injuries. Nobody at the Sheriff's Office or jail was able to provide the information.

The Washington County Sheriff's Office posted the statement on Facebook about their decision to warn residents:

Sex offenders have always lived in our communities; but it wasn’t until passage of the Sex and Childs Offender Registration Act that law enforcement even knew where they were living. In many cases, law enforcement is now able to share that information with you. Citizen abuse of this information to threaten, intimidate, or harass registered sex offenders will not be tolerated. Further, such abuse could potentially end law enforcement’s ability to do community notification.

We believe the only person who benefits if community notification ends is the sex offender, since sex offenders derive their power through secrecy.