Former Albertville City Judge Sentenced to 17 ½ Years in Prison for Child Pornography

BIRMINGHAM – A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced an Albertville lawyer and former part-time municipal judge to 17½ years in prison on a child pornography crime, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and FBI Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp Jr.

STEVEN VINCENT SMITH, 54, pleaded guilty in November to one count of receiving child pornography on a computer between January 2015 and March 2016. U.S. District Court Judge Virginia E. Hopkins sentenced Smith and ordered him to serve 10 years of supervised release following his prison term.

“This defendant swore to honor the law and uphold justice, but instead he committed loathsome crimes on the most vulnerable of victims,” Town said. “His innocent victims will grow into being survivors while Smith will spend most of his remaining breaths inside of a cell.”

According to the government’s sentencing memorandum, Smith “committed a shocking number of sex crimes.” Along with distributing child pornography on the internet and possessing thousands of images of child pornography, including photos of graphic sexual assaults on toddlers, Smith also molested a child, according to the sentencing memorandum. He also solicited the production of child pornography and advised other sexual predators on how to groom and molest children, the memorandum said.

Smith’s crimes spanned years, with forensic evidence showing him “discussing the rape of children and distributing child pornography as early as 2010,” according to the memorandum.

The FBI investigated the case in conjunction with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. Assistant U.S. Attorney Manu Balachandran prosecuted the case.

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