A Sierra Vista man arrested last year after a police detective traced the online transfer of videos of the sexual abuse of young children to the man’s social media account accepted a plea deal Thursday resulting in a 12.5-year prison sentence with no opportunity for early release.
Benjamin Calvert Price likely would have spent the rest of his life in prison if convicted at trial of multiple counts related to possession of child pornography and several other felonies. Many of the images depicted the sexual abuse of children between the ages of one and four, according to court records.
Thursday’s plea agreement required Price, 37, to plead no contest to two felonies related to sexual exploitation of a minor, which is Arizona’s statute involving the possession, production, or distribution of child pornography. Both of the felonies are considered dangerous crimes against children due to the age of the children being abused in the images.
One of Price’s no contest pleas involved electronic transmission or distribution of such an image. The second no contest plea was to the charge of attempted sexual exploitation related to Price’s efforts to possess such an image.
Price rejected a similar pretrial plea agreement offered by the Cochise County Attorney’s Office last summer.
Judge Timothy Dickerson of the Cochise County Superior Court will formally impose sentence on May 25. The plea deal also requires Price to serve lifetime probation upon release from prison and he must register as a sex offender no matter where he lives.
Price came under investigation in March 2020 when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children alerted the Sierra Vista Police Department about illicit videos uploaded via the KiK social networking app. Det. Thomas Ransford traced the KiK account to Price, who was arrested April 13, 2020.
Court record show Price remained in the Cochise County jail since his arrest in lieu of $50,000 bail. He was also indicted for felony possession of marijuana, methamphetamine, and Alprazolam without a prescription, as well as promoting prison contraband for Price’s failure to reveal during booking that he had an item concealed in his anus.
All the other charges were dismissed as part of Price’s plea deal.