Alvarado Man Sentenced to 150 Months in Federal Prison on Federal Child Pornography Conviction

DALLAS — A 53-year-old Alvarado, Texas, man, Jerry Wayne Smith, who pleaded guilty in January 2017 to one count of transporting and shipping child pornography, was sentenced this morning by U.S. District Judge David C. Godbey to 150 months in federal prison, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.

“Far from a victimless crime, said U.S. Attorney Parker, trading in these sickening images fuels demand for more such images which, in turn, results in more innocent children being horribly victimized.”

According to documents filed in the case, the Dallas Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Unit of the Dallas Police Department (DPD) received information that Smith, a City of Dallas employee, was reported by his co-workers as possessing and viewing child pornography while at his place of employment. DPD interviewed the co-workers, who confirmed they had seen Smith view child pornography on his Apple iPhone while in the employee break room at a City of Dallas facility on September 30, 2016 and again on October 3, 2016.

On October 4, 2016, DPD interviewed Smith at his place of employment. During the interview, Smith retrieved his phone and showed DPD that he browsed images of young children on the internet. A forensic review of the Apple iPhone showed multiple files depicting child pornography and a few video files depicting child pornography. In addition, the Kik application located on the Apple iPhone showed over 800 messages were observed in the application and several messaging strings were observed to have multiple attachments. The forensic review showed approximately 150 messaging exchanges and observed Smith trading files of child pornography in both individual and group messages.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative, which was launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals, who sexually exploit children, and identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/. For more information about internet safety education, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/ and click on the tab “resources.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Shane Read prosecuted.

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