TEXARKANA – A Texarkana, Arkansas, man was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in prison, followed by lifetime supervised release, on one count of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor via Production of Child Pornography. There is no parole in the federal system. The Honorable Chief Judge Susan O. Hickey presided over the sentencing hearing in the U.S. District Court in Texarkana.
According to court documents, Michael Ray Beam, age 32, used the social media service Snapchat to induce a 13-year-old Texarkana, Arkansas, girl to send him nude images and videos of herself, amounting to child pornography under federal law. The victim told authorities that Beam had left a “vape” device in her home mailbox in exchange for her sending him images and videos of herself engaging in specific sexual acts. Using the Snapchat service, Beam had been able view the victim’s real-time physical location, at her Texarkana, Arkansas, residence. Following Beam’s arrest on state charges, investigators obtained a warrant to search a smart phone found in his possession. In Beam’s phone, investigators found multiple ‘screen capture’ video recordings of the child pornography he had received via Snapchat from the young victim.
Beam was indicted by a Grand Jury sitting in the Western District of Arkansas in September 2021, and entered a plea of guilty in March 2022.
