United States Attorney Richard B. Roper
Northern District of Texas

HURST, TEXAS, MAN SENTENCED TO MORE THAN 9 YEARS
IN FEDERAL PRISON, WITHOUT PAROLE, ON
CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CONVICTION

FORT WORTH, Tx. — U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper of the Northern District of Texas, announced that Hurst, Texas resident, James Jett Smith, was sentenced today to 110 months in prison, by U.S. District Judge John McBryde, on a child pornography conviction. Judge McBryde also ordered that, after serving his sentence, Smith serve a lifetime of supervised release. Smith, 52, who has been in custody since his arrest in October 2006 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, was also ordered to register as a sex offender.

In a two-count superseding indictment returned in February 2007, Smith was charged with receipt and possession of Child Pornography. Smith pled guilty to one count of interstate receipt of child pornography, admitting that during February 2005, he downloaded images of child pornography, including the two images alleged in Count One of the indictment, onto his computer.

Specifically, in October 2006, ICE agents executed a search warrant at Smith’s home in Hurst. They seized his computer hard drive, several three-ring binders, and CD-Roms containing thousands of still images and movie files of child pornography. After Smith read a copy of the search warrant, he admitted to agents that he had joined child pornography websites from which he had downloaded hundreds of images of child pornography. He admitted the images were of boys between the ages of five and fifteen.

This case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales launched Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.

U.S. Attorney Roper commended the investigative efforts of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Camille Sparks and Aisha Saleem.

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