One good thing about the man is he accepted responsibility and didn't
play games. Gotta give him credit for that.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7326932/
520 images were found on his home computer
NBC News and news services
Updated: 1:40 p.m. ET March 30, 2005
FORT WORTH, Texas - A longtime Boy Scouts of America official who
directed a national task force to protect children from sexual abuse
pleaded guilty Wednesday to possession and distribution of child
pornography.
Douglas Sovereign Smith Jr. entered his plea without making a deal
with prosecutors. “He’s willing to accept responsibility. ...
Obviously, he wanted to get this behind him,” Assistant U.S. Attorney
Bret Helmer said.
Smith’s only comments in court were one-word answers to a judge’s
questions.
“He is contrite,” said Jack Strickland, Smith’s attorney. “He has
accepted responsibility.”
Authorities found 520 images of child pornography, including video
clips, on Smith’s home computer but none on his work computer, Helmer
said. There was no evidence Smith had inappropriate contact with
children, he said.
He received pictures and sent them to other people but did not sell
them, Helmer said. Officials don’t believe he sent the images to other
Boy Scout officials.
Faces 5-20 years in prison
Smith was accused of receiving images over the Internet of children
engaging in oral sex, intercourse and other sexually explicit conduct.
The charges were filed by federal prosecutors March 21.
Appearing in federal court in Fort Worth, Smith waived his indictment,
thus consenting to sentencing guidelines that range from 5 to 20 years
in prison.
Smith, 61, was released until his sentencing date, which a judge set
for July 12th.
On Tuesday, the Boy Scouts of America voiced disbelief.
“We’re shocked and dismayed to learn of this,” said spokesman Gregg
Shields. “Smith was employed by the Boy Scouts for 39 years and we had
no indication of prior criminal activity.”
No Boy Scouts in photos
Law enforcement officials indicated the pictures did not show boys who
were with the Boy Scouts organization, Shields said.
Smith was a national program director and staff adviser of the Boy
Scout’s renowned Youth Protection Task Force.
Shields said Smith took over the task force a couple of years ago when
another employee retired. Smith managed the distribution of
literature, video tapes, a Web site and other resources that teach
children and adults at schools, churches and Boy Scout troops how to
detect and prevent child abuse.
Smith’s job did not involve working directly with children, Shields
said. Smith was put on leave immediately after the Boy Scouts
officials learned of charges, then chose to retire, he said.
German connection
Smith’s indictment was the result of a joint investigation between
German and U.S. authorities to look into child porn distributed over
the Internet.
Authorities said they found e-mails containing child porn from Smith
on the computer of a German man.
Dean Boyd, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
the investigative arm of the Homeland Security Department, declined to
talk specifically about Smith’s case, but said it is the kind that
authorities take special care to investigate.
The Boy Scouts have had other problems with their personnel, including
volunteers. A California court case in the early 1990s revealed about
2,000 cases of sexual abuse of scouts and other boys that Boy Scouts
officials had documented privately for two decades without telling law
enforcement officials.
The organization's national headquarters are in the Dallas suburb of
Irving.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
© 2005 NBC News and news services
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Contempt of Congress meter reading-offscale.
Hello, theocracy with a fundamentalist US Supreme
Court who will ensure church and state are joined
at the hip like clergy and altar boys.
America 1776-Jan 2001 RIP
Religion is the original war crime.
-Michelle Malkin (Feb 26, 2005)
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