HOT SPRINGS, Ark. — A Hot Springs man already jailed on charges that he tried to meet a 13-year-old decoy at a Sonic Drive-In now faces six new felony counts after investigators say they found nude images of a real 16-year-old girl on his cellphone, according to court records filed Tuesday in Garland County Circuit Court.
Court records also show Zachary Scott Deaton, 36, of the 100 block of Stanage Drive, was free on a $1,000 bond in a separate 40-count child sexual abuse material case from 2024 when the alleged Sonic meetup took place in July.
Prosecuting Attorney Michelle C. Lawrence of the 18th Judicial District East filed the new information Tuesday in case 26CR-26-812, charging Deaton with six counts of pandering or possessing a visual or print medium depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child. Each count is a Class C felony punishable by three to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
Bond on the new case was set at $50,000 cash or surety. Deaton is scheduled to be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. Oct. 6 in Division IV of Garland County Circuit Court.
A call from Kansas
According to a probable cause affidavit sworn by Hot Springs Police Detective Chris McGlone, Deaton’s cellphone was seized as evidence when he was arrested July 24 on the internet stalking charge. Investigators obtained a search warrant for the phone, and the affidavit says a forensic analysis turned up child sexual abuse material on the device.
On Aug. 27, Assistant Chief of Police Jerad Lange of the Colby Police Department in Colby, Kansas, called Hot Springs police about a pornography case his department was working, the affidavit states. Lange had identified a 16-year-old girl who said she had been sending Deaton nude images and videos.
McGlone wrote that he was able to positively identify the Kansas teen in six images on Deaton’s phone. The affidavit describes the images as showing the girl nude or partially nude, most of them taken in front of a mirror with her phone held in front of her face. One image appeared to have been manipulated and zoomed in, according to the affidavit, and another shows the girl in a shower with a nude adult male standing behind her.
A Garland County district judge signed the arrest warrant Sept. 2, and Deaton was served with it that afternoon at the Garland County Detention Center, where he was already being held, according to the arrest report.
Out on bond in a 40-count case
Deaton was arrested July 24 after Hot Springs police say he showed up at the Sonic at 3701 Malvern Ave. to meet what he believed was a 13-year-old girl. The account was actually an undercover profile run by a Pike County sheriff’s investigator. Arkansas Breaking News reported on that case Sept. 2.
In that case, 26CR-26-640, Deaton is charged with internet stalking of a child, a Class Y felony carrying 10 to 40 years or life in prison; electronic facilitation of child sexual abuse, a Class B felony; and, under an amended information filed Aug. 19, traveling for the purpose of an unlawful sex act with a minor, also a Class B felony. His bond in that case is $250,000. He pleaded not guilty at his Sept. 1 arraignment and was appointed a public defender.
Online court records show the July arrest was not Deaton’s first brush with child exploitation charges. In December 2024, Lawrence’s office charged him in case 26CR-24-938 with 40 counts of distributing, possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, all Class C felonies alleged to have occurred May 26, 2024.
Deaton was released on a $1,000 personal recognizance bond in that case on Dec. 6, 2024, and pleaded not guilty the following month. At a pretrial hearing in February, he rejected a plea offer from the state, and a jury trial was set for April 20. That trial was continued on a defense motion, records show, and the case was still pending when Deaton walked into the Sonic parking lot three months later.
Prosecutors moved to revoke his bond in the 2024 case Aug. 20, and a revocation warrant was served Aug. 22. At a Sept. 15 hearing, with Deaton in custody, the state told the court that new charges were forthcoming. The judge vacated the pending jury trial and set a review hearing in both cases for 8:30 a.m. Nov. 3.
Booking records list Deaton as unemployed with no prior felony convictions. He is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
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