Griffin: ‘[W]e are coming for you, you will be caught, and you will be fully prosecuted’

LITTLE ROCK – Attorney General Tim Griffin today announced the arrest of Abel Catalino Lopez-Cano, 34, of Little Rock by special agents of his office’s Special Investigations Division Cyber Crimes Unit (CCU) and released the following statement:

“The protection of Arkansas children from sexual predators and exploitation is among the most important duties I have as Attorney General. Today’s arrest by special agents of my office should serve notice on those possessing this kind of material that we are coming for you, you will be caught, and you will be fully prosecuted.

“I am grateful to Chief Wayne Bewley and his team of investigators and law enforcement officers who increased the safety of our state’s children by taking this individual off our streets.”

A cyber tip to the Arkansas Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force led to CCU special agents obtaining a search warrant for Lopez-Cano’s home. The warrant was executed today with assistance of the Little Rock Police Department’s Special Operations Division.

An on-scene digital forensics examination led to the arrest of Lopez-Cano on 30 counts of distributing, possessing, or viewing of matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, a Class C felony.

Lopez-Cano was booked into the Pulaski County Regional Detention Facility where he is currently being held without bond.

About Attorney General Tim Griffin

Tim Griffin was sworn in as the 57th Attorney General of Arkansas on January 10, 2023, having
previously served as the state’s 20th Lieutenant Governor from 2015-2023. From 2011-2015, Griffin served as the 24th representative of Arkansas’s Second Congressional District, where he served on the House Committee on Ways and Means, House Armed Services Committee, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Committee on Ethics and House Committee on the Judiciary while also serving as a Deputy Whip for the Majority.

Griffin has served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps for more than 26 years and currently holds the rank of colonel. In 2005, Griffin was mobilized to active duty as an Army prosecutor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and served with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Mosul, Iraq.

He is currently serving as the Commander of the 2d Legal Operations Detachment in New Orleans, Louisiana. His previous assignments include serving as the Commander of the 134th Legal Operations Detachment at Fort Liberty (née Bragg), North Carolina, and as a Senior Legislative Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Pentagon. Griffin earned a master’s degree in strategic studies as a Distinguished Honor Graduate from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

Griffin also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush; Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Arkansas; Senior Investigative Counsel, Government Reform and Oversight Committee, U.S. House of Representatives; and Associate Independent Counsel, Office of Independent Counsel David M. Barrett, In re: HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.

Griffin is a graduate of Magnolia High School, Hendrix College in Conway, and Tulane Law School in New Orleans. He attended graduate school at Oxford University. He is admitted to practice law in Arkansas (active) and Louisiana (inactive). Griffin attends Immanuel Baptist Church and lives in Little Rock with his wife, Elizabeth, a Camden native, and their three children.

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