FRESNO, Calif. — After a four–day trial, a federal jury found Robert Wallace Smith, 37, of Lemoore, guilty today of one count of receipt and distribution of child pornography, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced. The trial was held before U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd.
According to evidence presented at trial, Smith’s laptop computer, which was seized pursuant to a federal search warrant on December 23, 2011, contained a collection of 388 videos and pictures of children being sexually abused.
This case is the product of an investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Assistant United States Attorneys Megan A. S. Richards and John R. Edwards are prosecuting the case.
Smith was remanded into custody after the jury reached its verdict.
Smith is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Drozd on September 12, 2016. Smith faces a mandatory minimum statutory penalty of five years in prison, a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison, and a $100,000 fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.
This case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, 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. Click on the “resources” tab for information about internet safety education.