Philadelphia Man, 20, Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Possession of Child Pornography, Including Videos He Recorded While Sexually Abusing Two Young Children

PHILADELPHIA - United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that Isaiah Smith, 20, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Mary Kay Costello to 20 years in prison, the statutory maximum term, to be followed by 20 years of supervised release, for possession of child pornography. This sentence is to run consecutively to his state sentence of 10 to 20 years' incarceration. In addition, Smith is subject to mandatory registration as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act ("SORNA") and Megan's Law.

Smith was charged by indictment in May of last year and pleaded guilty in January.

As detailed in court filings and admitted to by the defendant, Smith possessed visual depictions of prepubescent minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. These visual depictions included videos that the defendant recorded as he sexually abused two different child victims, a five-year-old girl, and a nonverbal three-year-old boy, on multiple occasions, over more than a year.

The child sexual abuse material was discovered after a friend of the defendant walked in on Smith orally raping one of the child victims. He was prosecuted in Philadelphia County for that sexual assault, for which he received the 10-to-20-year prison sentence.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit projectsafechildhood.govLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link..

The case was investigated by the FBI and the Philadelphia Police Department Special Victims Unit and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Rotella.