NORTH CAROLINA
NBC 17
POSTED: 4:26 pm EST March 30, 2005
UPDATED: 4:38 pm EST March 30, 2005
RALEIGH, N.C. -- A judge on Wednesday refused to lower a $1 million bond on a Cary youth minister charged in a child pornography case.
Jeffrey Morgan Smith, 41, was charged Tuesday by Apex police with nine counts of second-degree exploitation of a minor and one count of third-degree exploitation of a minor.
The charges stem from photos of nude children that were e-mailed from Apex to a teenager in Rockford, Ill., police said.
"Some were individual, some were not. Some were more than one child in the photo," said Sgt. Ann Moore, of the Apex Police Department.
For the past three years, Smith has worked as youth and family pastor at Peace Presbyterian Church, in Cary, where he primarily worked with high school students.
"We don't feel like he has molested any children or that any children in the youth group at church or in this area need to be concerned," Moore said.
Police searched Smith's Apex home on March 15 and confiscated several computers. His church office wasn’t searched.
Posted by kshaw at March 30, 2005 06:15 PM