Griffin: ‘Any time we’re able to take people who are victimizing children off the street, it’s a good day for justice in Arkansas’

LITTLE ROCK – An arrest was made Wednesday in Hot Springs by investigators in the Attorney General’s Special Investigations Division (SID), Cyber Crimes Unit, in conjunction with the Hot Springs Police Department. After the arrest, Attorney General Tim Griffin issued the following statement:

“Any time we’re able to take people who are victimizing children off the street, it’s a good day for justice in Arkansas.

“Special agents within my office, with assistance from the Hot Springs Police Department, arrested Nikolas Antonio Pandis on 30 counts of distributing, possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child.

“Our electronic detection K9, Lucy, and her handler, Special Agent Amber Kalmer, participated in this bust. Lucy assisted in the recovery of key evidence in the case. This is exactly how we envisioned her helping us bring criminals to justice. I am supremely proud of my entire SID team, led by Chief Wayne Bewley.”

Pandis was booked into the Garland County Jail, and bond was set at $105,000.

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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