Cowetan Arraigned on Child Porn Charges

By W. Winston Skinner
Times-Herald
April 10, 2015

http://www.times-herald.com/Local/20150409emmett-smith-arraigned-MUG-18-


Emmett Winston Smith, 66, has been arraigned on federal charges of distributing, receiving and possessing child pornography.

Smith – who has been more commonly known in Coweta County as Everett Smith – was indicted by a federal grand jury on March 24. Smith, who was a former facilities assistant and Sunday school teacher at First Baptist Church in Newnan, was arrested March 5. “Smith allegedly traded images and videos of child pornography with others, and went into Internet chat rooms looking to make contact with others who shared his same interests,” said Acting U.S. Attorney John Horn. “This case, which began with a lead from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, illustrates our strong partnership with international law enforcement to combat child pornography and to identify and prosecute those who trade images of the sexual abuse of children.”

In 2014, the RCMP investigated a person on allegations that he traded in child pornography, according to Horn. That investigation revealed the Canadian subject had traded more than 200 e-mails containing child pornography with a person using an e-mail address that eventually led back to a house in Newnan.

Canadian law enforcement passed this information on to special agents with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, who continued the investigation.

Homeland Security investigations agents identified Smith as the person trading e-mails with attachments of child pornography. They obtained a federal search warrant for Smith’s house in Newnan and executed it on March 5. They found child pornography on three computers at his home.

Smith was arrested that same day.

At the time of his arrest, Smith was working part-time as a custodian at First Baptist. Authorities searched computers at First Baptist, but did not find any illegal material.

On March 9, Robin Farr, director of First Baptist’s daycare center, sent a note to daycare families and staff alerting them of Smith’s arrest and termination. In the letter, Farr said the charges do not allege Smith participated in any illegal or inappropriate conduct at the church or on the church’s computers.

However, “the serious nature of the charges and the information provided warranted his immediate termination,” the letter said, citing the daycare’s “zero tolerance” policy.

“The child pornography discovered during this investigation shows the abuse of numerous innocent children who are re-victimized each time images of their sexual exploitation are traded,” said Acting HSI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Ryan Spradlin. “HSI Special Agents are actively working to disrupt the trade of these illegal images, and will continue to coordinate with our foreign and domestic law enforcement partners to identify and seek prosecution of criminals who possess them.”

Smith’s case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez launched Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney’s offices around the country, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children.

The case is being investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.

Assistant United States Attorney Paul R. Jones is prosecuting the case.