Former Georgia Sunday school teacher arraigned on child pornography charges
NEWNAN, Ga. — A former Newnan Sunday school teacher and church facilities assistant was arraigned Wednesday on federal charges of distributing, receiving and possessing child pornography.
Emmett Winston Smith, a/k/a Everett Smith, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents following a lead from Canadian authorities. Smith, 66, was indicted by a federal grand jury March 24.
“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 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.”
According to information presented in court: In 2014, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigated a person on allegations that he traded in child pornography. That investigation revealed that the Canadian subject had traded more than 200 emails 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 HSI special agents who continued the investigation.
HSI identified Smith as the person trading emails with attachments of child pornography. They obtained a federal search warrant for Smith’s house and executed it March 5, where they found child pornography on three computers at the house. Smith was arrested that same day.
At the time of his arrest, Smith was working as a custodian at a large church in downtown Newnan that had a pre-school attached to it. He was also a Sunday school teacher at that same church.
Members of the public are reminded that the indictment only contains charges. The defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
This investigation was conducted under HSI's Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 12,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2014, more than 2,000 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative.
HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.
For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, download HSI's Operation Predator smartphone app or visit the online suspect alerts page.
HSI is a founding member and current chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.
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