San Joaquin Valley man convicted of child pornography charge after 4-day jury trial

FRESNO, Calif. — A Lemoore man faces up to 20 years in prison after being convicted Friday in connection with a child pornography probe by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Robert Wallace Smith, 37, was found guilty following a four-day jury trial of one count of receiving and distributing child pornography. Smith was remanded into custody after the jury reached its verdict. The presiding judge in the trial was U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd. The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Megan A. S. Richards and John R. Edwards.

According to evidence presented during the proceedings, Smith’s laptop computer, located during the execution of a federal search warrant in December 2011, contained a collection of nearly 400 videos and pictures of children being sexually abused.

This case is a product of Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative launched in 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, and HSI’s Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators.

Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

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.