Sex Offender Sentenced To Life In Prison For Guilty Plea To Federal Firearms Offense

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – A convicted sex offender who was arrested at his home in Las Vegas with a minor boy and also found in possession of a firearm, was sentenced today to life in prison for his guilty plea to a federal firearms offense, announced U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden for the District of Nevada.

William Oliver Smith, 43, most recently a resident of Las Vegas, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jennifer A. Dorsey.  Smith pleaded guilty in February 2015 to one count of felon in possession of a firearm and stipulated in the plea agreement to the life sentence.  There is no parole in the federal system.

“We will continue to use federal gun laws to prosecute repeat offenders and remove them from our community, permanently if necessary” said U.S. Attorney Bogden. “We can all be thankful for the work of our investigators and prosecutors in ensuring community safety and that this defendant will never again harm any more children.”

According to the plea agreement, on May 25, 2013, officers from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department identified Smith as a suspect in the disappearance of a juvenile in Las Vegas.  When officers contacted Smith at his residence, he was with a 10-year-old boy, who was not the missing juvenile.  Smith was arrested for lewdness with a minor.  During a search of the residence, officers recovered a .38 caliber handgun in a drawer next to Smith’s bed.

Smith was previously convicted of sexual assault of a minor and taking indecent liberties with a child in North Carolina, child molestation in San Paulo, Brazil, and attempted sexual assault, in Reno, Nev.

This case was investigated by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, as part of the Safe Streets Task Force and Project Safe Neighborhoods program.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Phillip N. Smith, Jr.