Man, 21, pleads guilty to child porn
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By Amanda Stewart
Published: July 30, 2008
A Manassas area man pleaded guilty in Prince William Circuit Court on Wednesday to producing child pornography.
Conrad Alex Smith Jr., 21, of the 8000 block of Mace Circle, also pleaded guilty to crimes against nature.
Prosecutors said that during a four-month period in 2007, Smith took sexually explicit photographs and videos of a 15-year-old girl. He was 20 at the time.
Some of the videos depicted Smith and the girl engaged in sexual activities. The girl said she felt pressured to participate, prosecutors said, but Smith said the acts were consensual.
Officials from the FBI discovered the videos while investigating federal charges that Smith possessed child pornography.
FBI agents conducted a search warrant at Smith's house in November and found between 150 and 300 images of child pornography saved to computers at his house, court documents state.
Smith was charged in federal court with one count of possessing child pornography.
He pleaded guilty and was sentenced in March to four years and three months in federal prison and 20 years of probation.
Smith will be sentenced for his charges in Prince William Circuit Court on Sept. 19.
He faces a total of up to 25 years in prison for the two charges.
Staff writer Amanda Stewart can be reached at 703-878-8014.
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Posted by ( minaccioso ) on August 09, 2008 at 3:05 pm
15 is hardly “of age”, hmm.
And no, he didn’t just find those pictures. He took them himself.
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Posted by ( InsaneWorld ) on August 07, 2008 at 11:45 am
Wait a minute, BubbaK. This was not a case of underage sex,as you well know. Smith waited for her to be of age before they had sex. The charge is for the type of sex they had, which was her idea. This law is not common knowledge. Smith did not know that he was breaking that law. As for the pornography, as you also know, he only found it by accident when he was looking for photos of girls his own age. So, please be more honest.
I would caution readers to remember that statements made against the defendant in this forum are not made under oath. As Smith’s aunt I know a lot more details of this case than what what reported, and I can see the distortions. The accusations made by the family are grossly exxaggerated to downright false.
In the first trial they sat in the courtroom trying to look very victimized, but after the verdict was read, and they were outside the courtroom doors, they laughed even as Smith’s mother was sobbing uncontrollably right in front of them. The victimized face they show the public is very calculated.
I am just as outraged by the real victims in our society, I was one when I was young. If Smith was guilty of what they are saying I would not be on his side. That said, he does have to take responsibility for his actions, but so far I have not seen justice in this trial. I want real justice.
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Posted by ( BubbaK ) on August 02, 2008 at 10:11 am
To respond to Skatin777,
I dont need to rush to judgment, this story is about my little sister and I’ll tell you now that this man openly bragged about it all after he was arrested. He admitted to the child porn and actually looking for it, bragging he could find it as easily as regular porn.
I can appreciate the fact that there are men and women who have relationships w/ minors can be seen as child molesters or w/e. But being the adult they should be able to say NO, and wait to move their relationship to a sexual one when it’s appropriate…as in when the minor is a legal adult and ready.
And when you start stating that young girls take pictures of themselves and send them to boyfriends or whomever, it sounds as if you’re justifying what could happen to them; getting molested, raped or abused. Granted, that some girls really put those pictures up for the wrong reasons, but many do it to just express themselves in one way or another. Again, Im not saying it’s right for what they do, but they’re not looking for these things to happen to them.
And also to SWtoPW,
If you honestly believe all that, then you have problems. It is child pornography because the girl is a minor and still a child no matter how you look at it. He is an adult and should respect that fact that he needed to act like it.
And making it illegal for anyone under 21 to have sex isnt going to solve anything, in fact it may even make things worse. Abortion is gonna happen, sex is gonna happen, but it has it place and time.
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Posted by ( InsaneWorld ) on August 01, 2008 at 2:14 pm
HE IS NOT A CHILD MOLESTER! As with almost all news stories there is a lot more to the story than what you read. I happen to know that there is a lot more to this very complicated case.
As the FBI agent testified, the video shows the girl grabbing Smith’s hand and putting his hand on her. She was telling him what to do, and she was assertive.
She has been painting herself as a victim, but after Conrad was found guilty in the first trial she, her friend, and her family stood outside the courtroom and laughed as Smith’s mother collapsed on a bench sobbing uncontrollably. What sort of people laugh? Certainly not victims. If you were a victim and had just been through a trial, would you laugh? They were celebrating and enjoying the pain they were causing! It was like watching a trashy daytime shock-style talk show.
She accused Conrad because she was afraid of getting in trouble with her mother, and she was ashamed of her actions, so she blamed it all on Conrad. If you think back to your own teenage years can’t you remember something you experimented with that you later felt guilty for? What if you had someone to blame it all on and get sympathy instead of criticism? If you are older than 30 you might not realize that some high school girls are very active and aggressive these days.
Her first report of the “crime” was very simple, but every time she was believed and got sympathy she came up with more stories. She has made multiple statements, and each one has new stories.
I am really glad that the law is taking child molestation seriously these days, but Conrad is not one of them. As someone who was victimized as a child I can assure you that if he was guilty I would want him in jail. He is not guilty of the degree to which they are accusing him or the degree to which some members of the public wish to believe, he paid for him “crimes” in his first 6 months of jail. To keep him in there any longer and to have this “trial by public opinion” is a further travesty of justice. How can anyone say he deserves to be in prison when you have not even heard his case?? Do you really think that you are getting a clear picture of the case from a brief article?? Some people are lumping him in with child molesters, but he is not a child molester, and he is no threat to anyone. It feels good to have someone to point a finger at, but Conrad does not deserve this.
In the first trial his most recent girlfriend was there for support. She cried so much. She told me that she was upset by what they were saying because she really had been abused by someone when she was young, and she knew Conrad was nothing like that. She said she would never be with someone like that. She was upset that there are real victims out there whose stories will be less credible because of lies like the ones being told about Conrad.
So before anyone makes up his or her mind about this case you need to understand that this is a complicated case with a lot of false accusations against a boy who made a couple of very stupid mistakes.
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Posted by ( skatin777 ) on August 01, 2008 at 7:32 am
Before you rush to judgment on a situation that you have no idea of what really transpired, I would refer you to an excellent investigative report that John Stossel did for 20/20 and was aired a couple of months ago, entitled “Young Lovers or Sex Offender and Victim?”
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=4400537&page=1
In many situations, as has happened throughout the years, young couples are “in love,“ and have relations at young ages. Because of the stiffening of our laws to prevent child abuse, the law has taken an extreme stand and consequently many young men are serving prison terms for having relations with a minor.
But what if the girl wanted to have relations? I would not say this is a good situation but it does not warrant years and years in prison for the young man involved. After the years in prison, they then have to register as sex offenders.
The way that the laws are written and carried out, young men are being literally forced to plead guilty.
And the child pornography? The Internet has brought this on. How many men (or women) are downloading pornography? When downloading, often all kinds of things will come along with it.
So we have a situation where a young man had relations with his girlfriend and faces years and years in jail. This a travesty of justice.
On a personal note, I have sons & daughters – my daughters being in the same age range as these young people and my sons being a little older. I have personally found that my sons did not even have to deal with what is going on now. Many young girls are taking explicit pictures of themselves, texting them to their boyfriends, posting them on the popular networking web sites, as well as some who instigate the relations themselves.
Please open your eyes … I would venture to say that far more people could be convicted of the very same crime.
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Posted by ( Elizabeth ) on August 01, 2008 at 5:36 am
Men who are 18, 19 20, and 21 are allowed to die for their country in Irag and Afghanistan. How is a prono-producer of 21 too young to be held responsible for his actions? There is no successful treatment to stop sex offenders. Quit tolerating and excusing them at any age.
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Posted by ( skatin777 ) on July 31, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Before you rush to judgment on a situation that you have no idea of what really transpired, I would refer you to an excellent investigative report that John Stossel did for 20/20 and was aired a couple of months ago, entitled “Young Lovers or Sex Offender and Victim?”
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=4400537&page=1
In many situations, as has happened throughout the ages, young couples fall in love and have relations at young ages. Because of the stiffening of our laws to prevent child abuse, the law has taken an extreme stand and consequently many young men are serving prison terms for having relations with a minor.
But what if the girl wanted to have relations? I would not say this is a good situation but it does not warrant years and years in prison for the young man involved. After the years in prison, they then have to register as sex offenders.
The way that the laws are written and carried out, young men are being literally forced to plead guilty.
And the child pornography? The Internet has brought this on. How many men (or women) are downloading pornography? When downloading, often all kinds of things will come along with it. Have you ever had something show up on your computer? I have and I haven’t downloaded pornography. If the floodgate is opened to download porn, anything can come.
So we have a situation where a young man had relations with his girlfriend and faces years and years in jail. This is a travesty of justice.
On a personal note, I have sons & daughters – my daughters being in the same age range as these young people and my sons being a little older. I have personally found that my sons did not even have to deal with what is going on now. I have been shocked at the actions of many young girls who are taking explicit pictures of themselves, texting them to their boyfriends, posting them on the popular networking web sites, as well as what always has been when some instigate the relations themselves.
Please open your eyes … I would venture to say that far more people could be convicted of the very same crime.
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Posted by ( SWtoPW ) on July 31, 2008 at 11:34 am
20 is only 5 years older than 15. This 21 year old “man” is a kid too. It is silly to call this child pornography. We should get to the root of the problem and make it illegal for anybody under age 21 to have sex. That would help other problems too, such as abortion.
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Posted by ( AJ ) on July 31, 2008 at 9:09 am
THATS WHY WE HAVE SO MANY CHILD MOLESTERS,4 YEARS!!! THATS NOTHING, WHEN HE COME OUT, HE WILL DO IT AGAIN, THEY NEED TOUGHER LAWS TO PROTECT OUR CHILDREN FROM PEOPLE LIKE THIS!!!!!!
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