Little Rock Man Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison For Extortion and Production of Child Pornography

 Defendant Used Online Alias to Threaten Women and Minors

      LITTLE ROCK— A Little Rock man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for extortion and production of child pornography. Devion Cumbie, 25, was sentenced today by United States District Judge James M. Moody, Jr. The sentencing is announced by Acting United States Attorney Jonathan D. Ross and FBI Little Rock Special Agent in Charge Diane Upchurch.

      In June 2020, in the first federal criminal jury trial in the state since the coronavirus pandemic began, a federal jury found Cumbie guilty on all seven counts for which he was indicted: production of child pornography, two counts of attempted production of child pornography, and four counts of extortion.

      Testimony during the trial established that in late 2018, a 16-year-old girl in Colorado sent a Facebook message to “Chink Capone,” the online persona of an actor named Alex Drummond. However, the Facebook page actually belonged to Cumbie, posing as Drummond’s online persona. The two began talking, and Cumbie told the minor he might like to meet her soon but would first need to see some photographs of her in her underwear. Cumbie eventually convinced the minor to send him a partially nude photograph. Cumbie then threatened the minor that he would post the photo to her Facebook page unless she sent him a video of herself naked. The minor told her mother, and they reported the conduct to police.

      Investigation revealed that Cumbie had conducted a similar scheme with numerous other victims, some of whom were minors. Additionally, Cumbie was on pretrial release awaiting trial on federal gun charges while he engaged in the conduct that led to the child pornography and extortion charges. Cumbie was indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2019, and his first trial in February 2020 ended in a hung jury. His second trial resulted in his October 2020 conviction. Cumbie is still awaiting trial on the separate firearms charge.

      In addition to the 300 month prison sentence, Judge Moody sentenced Cumbie to 15 years of supervised release. The statutory penalty for production of child pornography, as well as attempted production of child pornography, is not less than 15 years imprisonment, not more than 30 years imprisonment, and not less than five years of supervised release. The statutory penalty for extortion is not more than two years imprisonment and not more than one year of supervised release. All offenses of conviction include a potential penalty of not more than a $250,000 fine.

      The investigation was conducted by the FBI, and the case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Kristin Bryant and Erin O’Leary.