Delaware News

Child Predator Task Force Arrests Virginia Man for Dealing Child Pornography

Department of Justice | Date Posted: Friday, August 17, 2012



Online conversation with undercover officer in Delaware leads to arrest

Wilmington – An investigation that began when a man shared child pornography images online with an undercover detective has led to the Delaware arrest of Sean K. Smith of Manassas, Virginia, the Delaware Attorney General’s office announced today. Smith, 30, was extradited to Delaware and was arrested and charged Wednesday with 20 counts of dealing in child pornography.

The undercover Delaware Child Predator Task Force detective was contacted in a public online chat room by an individual, ultimately identified as Smith, who sent him at least 20 explicitly pornographic images depicting mostly violations of infants and toddlers. Investigators were able to identify that the chats and images were being sent from a Manassas, Virginia address, and alerted the Northern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. The Virginia Task Force obtained and executed a search warrant at Smith’s home, during which detectives seized computers and other digital evidence. Later forensic analysis revealed that some of the same images that had been sent to the undercover Delaware detective were stored on the computers. Delaware detectives obtained an arrest warrant and Virginia authorities arrested Smith as a fugitive.

After extradition to Delaware, Smith was arrested and charged on August 15. He was arraigned via videophone at J.P. Court #2 and ordered held on $1,000,000 secured bail. He is being held at James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna.

A booking photo of Smith:

The Delaware Department of Justice reminds the public that a charge is merely an allegation and is not evidence of guilt. Defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a jury trial at which the State bears the burden of proving each charge beyond a reasonable doubt.

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Child Predator Task Force Arrests Virginia Man for Dealing Child Pornography

Department of Justice | Date Posted: Friday, August 17, 2012



Online conversation with undercover officer in Delaware leads to arrest

Wilmington – An investigation that began when a man shared child pornography images online with an undercover detective has led to the Delaware arrest of Sean K. Smith of Manassas, Virginia, the Delaware Attorney General’s office announced today. Smith, 30, was extradited to Delaware and was arrested and charged Wednesday with 20 counts of dealing in child pornography.

The undercover Delaware Child Predator Task Force detective was contacted in a public online chat room by an individual, ultimately identified as Smith, who sent him at least 20 explicitly pornographic images depicting mostly violations of infants and toddlers. Investigators were able to identify that the chats and images were being sent from a Manassas, Virginia address, and alerted the Northern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. The Virginia Task Force obtained and executed a search warrant at Smith’s home, during which detectives seized computers and other digital evidence. Later forensic analysis revealed that some of the same images that had been sent to the undercover Delaware detective were stored on the computers. Delaware detectives obtained an arrest warrant and Virginia authorities arrested Smith as a fugitive.

After extradition to Delaware, Smith was arrested and charged on August 15. He was arraigned via videophone at J.P. Court #2 and ordered held on $1,000,000 secured bail. He is being held at James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna.

A booking photo of Smith:

The Delaware Department of Justice reminds the public that a charge is merely an allegation and is not evidence of guilt. Defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a jury trial at which the State bears the burden of proving each charge beyond a reasonable doubt.

# # #

image_printPrint


Graphic that represents delaware news on a mobile phone

Keep up to date by receiving a daily digest email, around noon, of current news release posts from state agencies on news.delaware.gov.

Here you can subscribe to future news updates.