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Ex-soldier gets 14 months over Webcam photo

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A former Arkansas guardsman has gotten a break on his sentence for an obscenity conviction because of his military service.

Dale W. Box, 33, of El Dorado pleaded guilty last November to a felony charge of attempting to transfer obscene material to someone younger than 16.

U.S. District Judge William R. Wilson sentenced Box to 14 months in prison Wednesday and fined him $2,000. Box had faced 18 to 24 months in prison and a maximum fine of $4,000, under federal sentencing guidelines.

According to an indictment, Box was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, but was home in El Dorado when he allegedly sent a Web camera image of himself in a sexual act to someone he believed to be a 14-year-old girl.

The girl was actually Shannon Hills Police Chief Richard Friend, who created an Internet profile of an eighth-grade girl. The prosecution alleged that Box sent photographs of himself to the girl by computer that included one of him in military attire and a close-up of his groin.

McLean said Box was a member of the 875th Engineer Battalion of the 87th Troop Command of the Arkansas National Guard, and had served in the military for several years. McLean said his client had served in Bosnia, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.