Randallstown Man Pleads Guilty To Sexual Exploitation Of A Child

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                              Contact ELIZABETH MORSE
www.justice.gov/usao/md                                       at (410) 209-4885

Baltimore, Maryland – On May 31, 2018, Kenneth M. Smith, age 39, of Randallstown, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to two counts of sexual exploitation of a child. 

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur; Special Agent in Charge Gordon B. Johnson of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; Acting Special Agent in Charge Cardell Morant of ICE Homeland Security Investigations; Chief Terrence B. Sheridan of the Baltimore County Police Department; Colonel William M. Pallozzi, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; and State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger of the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office.

According to his plea agreement, on September 8, 2015, an electronic communications service reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (“NCMEC”) that one of its users had uploaded an image of known child pornography.  It was determined that an account with the same username as an e-mail account associated with Smith’s accounts was active on an image-sharing website that contains child pornography and erotica.  The IP address used to access the account was assigned to Smith’s mother’s residence in Randallstown, Maryland, where he was living at the time.

On October 12, 2015, the Baltimore County Police Department secured a warrant to search the residence and discovered Smith’s laptop, which was powered on and had an anonymous file-sharing platform open on the screen. The file-sharing program was active and downloading child pornography files when agents made contact with the defendant’s computer.  A downloads folder was also open and contained numerous files of child pornography.

During an interview with investigators, Smith admitted to sexually abusing a seven-year-old boy, and taking pictures of the abuse with his smartphone. Investigators located the photographs of Smith engaged in sexually explicit conduct with the boy. Investigators also recovered thousands of other videos and images of children being sexually abused, including images and videos of the rape of children, including infants and toddlers.  Smith also used his e-mail accounts to send and receive child pornography.

Smith also admitted to the prior abuse of a minor girl in Washington County. He was tried and convicted in Washington County in September 2017 of sex offenses against the minor girl, and in November was sentenced to 16 years in prison on those charges. 

Smith faces a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of 60 years in prison.  U.S. District Judge George L. Russell has scheduled sentencing for October 12, 2018.

United States Attorney Robert K. Hur commended the FBI, HSI, the Baltimore County Police Department, the Maryland State Police, the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office, the Washington County State’s Attorney’s Office, and the Washington County Sheriff’s Office for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Hur thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Myers and Jeffrey Izant, who are prosecuting the case.