Farmington man arrested in internet stalking investigation
FARMINGTON, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — A Farmington man was arrested after being accused of having inappropriate communication with a minor, according to court documents.
Edward Hahling, 34, was arrested on April 5 on two counts of internet stalking of a child, possession of child sexual abuse material and sexual grooming of a child.
Rogers police began investigating on April 3 after they received a complaint about a minor receiving text messages from an unknown person, according to an affidavit.
A message from the unknown person, later identified as Hahling told the child it was a random number and wanted to know if they wanted to be his friend.
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The child told Hahling their age and he responded by saying he liked their age and wanted to know if they wanted to meet and have sex.
The affidavit said Hahling asked the child to not call the police, ghost him or cheat on him.
The child said Hahling sent an AI-generated image of themselves and Hahling asked them to send pictures in return.
A Rogers detective began communicating with Hahling claiming to be a friend of the child, the affidavit said.
Hahling asked the undercover detective to send him an inappropriate photo but they said they could not send those images. He reportedly sent multiple photographs of himself and sexually explicit messages to the detective.
Rogers and Farmington detectives set up to meet Hahling outside of a store near his residence, but the detectives ended up going to Hahling’s home and arresting him.
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When Hahling was taken into custody, he said his mother had guardianship over him due to his mental status and he could not answer any questions or sign anything due to the guardianship.
The affidavit said his mother has had guardianship over him as of 2022.
According to the affidavit, Hahling was arrested in California in 2017 for similar offenses. It said the charges were “possibly a result of an undercover investigation.”
The prosecution was suspended due to Hahling being mentally incompetent, the affidavit said.
Hahling is being held on a $250,000 bond and is ordered to have no unsupervised contact with minors and no internet access.
He has a court date set for May 13.
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