FORT SMITH — A Harrison man and truck driver was sentenced Wednesday to 16 years in federal prison on one count of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.
Acting U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes said Judge P. K. Holmes III sentenced 32-year-old Edgar Benjamin Davidson to 200 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release in federal court in Fort Smith.
Online court records show Davidson had been an over-the-road truck driver for some time. In late July 2020, Davidson took the girl with him on a 10-day trucking delivery run. She was 15 at the time.
The affidavit for probable cause said those trips from Arkansas went to Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
The affidavit said Davidson’s wife found text messages between Davidson and the girl on his phone in October 2020. She turned those messages over to the Boone County Sheriff’s Office and the investigation ensued.
Authorities alleged Davidson sexually assaulted the girl numerous times during the trip. The girl was interviewed and said Davidson had touched her numerous times over the course of the trip.