SPRINGFIELD, MO—David M. Ketchmark, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Carthage, Missouri man was sentenced in federal court today for the sexual exploitation of a child.
Todd Christopher Smith, 41, of Carthage, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard E. Dorr to life in federal prison without parole. Smith was sentenced as a repeat and dangerous sex offender against minors based on his prior convictions for sexual misconduct in the first degree in Missouri and criminal sexual abuse in Illinois (both convictions involved minor victims).
On August 17, 2012, Smith was found guilty of using a minor to create child pornography.
Officers with the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department responded to Smith’s residence on September 27, 2011, after receiving a report that he had slapped a minor female. In the course of their investigation, officers found evidence of Smith’s sexual abuse of several child victims. Officers discovered six videos on Smith’s cell phone that depicted Smith engaged in sex with the child victim. There were also 12 videos that appear to have been taken covertly in the bathrooms in Smith’s residence that depict the child victim as well as five other minors.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Kelleher. It was investigated by the Southwest Missouri Cybercrimes Task Force, the Jasper County (Missouri) Sheriff’s Department, and the FBI.
