The son of a Republican lawmaker in Arkansas faces multiple charges after his wife discovered video depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child in his email.
Jeffrey Ladyman, the 42-year-old son of state Rep. Jack Ladyman, has been charged with video voyeurism, sexual indecency with a child, and distributing, possessing, or viewing of matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, KAIT8 reported.
Arkansas State Police received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that led to contact with Jeffrey Ladyman's wife in December 2024. She "provided a detailed interview, written statement, and video of the juvenile victim being videotaped," according to police.
"She found some items in his email on June 7, 2024," court documents said, according to the outlet. "His spouse stated that she started going through his email and located videos sent from his phone to his email address."
When confronted about the videos, "he did not deny anything and admitted he thought he deleted the videos," an affidavit alleged.
In a subsequent interview, the child victim told a caseworker that Jeffrey Ladyman had touched their genital area.
Ladyman has been ordered to have no contact with children and to refrain from accessing the internet while out on bond.
"Him and his wife have been separated for a year and they're going through a nasty divorce and that's what this is all about and the lawyers will work that out," Jack Ladyman told the Arkansas Times on Friday.
The senior Ladyman has served in the Arkansas House since 2015. Previous reporting brought allegations of domestic abuse against the lawmaker to light. In 1999, his wife filed an ex parte order of protection alleging abuse spanning several years, including an incident in which she was reportedly thrown down stairs and broke her ankle, in addition to accusations of verbal abuse and threats. No criminal charges were filed.
