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Press Release

Former Memphis Pastor Sentenced to 85 Months for Receiving Child Pornography

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Tennessee

Memphis, TN – A former Memphis pastor has been sentenced to 85 months for knowingly receiving sexual images of a minor. Edward L. Stanton III, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, announced the sentencing today.

According to information presented in court, between March and April 2015, Demarcus Smith, 32, asked a teenage boy to send him sexually explicit images of himself via the Facebook Messenger app. Smith, a former pastor and minister, also had sexually explicit conversations with the victim through Facebook Messenger.

In August 2015, Smith was indicted on charges in relation to child pornography. He pled guilty to one count of receipt of child pornography in October 2015.

On Friday, January 15, 2016, Smith was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sheryl H. Lipman to 85 months imprisonment.

The case was investigated by the Memphis Child Exploitation Task Force. The collective is comprised of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Homeland Security Investigations; Shelby County Sheriff's Department; Memphis Police Department; U.S. Postal Investigation Service; U.S. Marshals Service; and the United States Secret Service.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Ireland prosecuted this case on the government’s behalf.

Anyone who has information on the exploitation of minors is asked to contact the Memphis Child Exploitation Task Force at 901.747.4300.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the

Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, PSC marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about PSC, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/. For more information about internet safety education, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/resources.html and click on the tab "resources."

Updated January 15, 2016