A Eureka Springs man has been sentenced to 196 months in federal prison, to be followed by 25 years of supervised release, for distributing child pornography.

Judge Timothy L. Brooks presided over the sentencing hearing, which was held Friday, Sept. 5, in the U.S. District Court in Fayetteville.

According to court documents, Seth Alexander Burns, 24, used an online social media platform to distribute child pornography to multiple users. Burns’ crime came to light after a CyberTip was submitted to a Homeland Security Investigations task force officer by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

When interviewed by a task force officer, Burns admitted to creating multiple social media accounts to distribute and receive child pornography, including files of pre-pubescent children, according to court documents.

Burns was indicted by a grand jury in the Western District of Arkansas in November and entered a plea of guilty in February.

U.S. Attorney Clay Fowlkes of the Western District of Arkansas made the Sept. 5 announcement, while Homeland Security and police departments from Eureka Springs, Berryville, Fayetteville, Harrison and Springdale investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Devon Still prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States 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. Still is a former Carroll County deputy prosecutor.

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.