Jonesboro, AR – Jonesboro Right Now – A Jonesboro man faces multiple charges after an investigation revealed that he was in possession of child sexual abuse material and created deepfake imagery.
District Judge Tommy Fowler found probable cause Aug. 7 to charge 44-year-old Joseph Perciful with the following offenses:
- 44 counts of possession or use of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) (Class B felony)
- One count of unlawful creation or distribution of deepfake visual material – first offense (Class A misdemeanor)
According to the probable cause affidavit, on July 13, a detective received a cybertip about cloud-based storage company Synchronoss Technologies flagging CSAM.
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It was soon discovered the phone number and IP address associated with the uploader of the CSAM belonged to Perciful. The IP address used in this cybertip was also found to be associated with three other cybertips containing CSAM.
A warrant was obtained for Synchronoss Technologies for Perciful’s number. Information received from the company included more CSAM, as well as a photo of Perciful’s home, a Sumo Japanese Steakhouse schedule with the name “Brad Percival”, a screenshot of WiFi connections, and a photo of four fully-clothed women. Another copy of the photo was discovered that appeared to have been modified by artificial intelligence to remove their clothes, rendering them nude.
A warrant was executed on Perciful’s home, and he was arrested. In a Mirandized interview, Perciful advised that he had downloaded and viewed CSAM.
Perciful is being held in the Craighead County Detention Center on a $500,000 cash/surety bond with his next court appearance scheduled for Sept. 30. Fowler ordered Perciful to have no access to the internet.
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