"This case leaves to the imagination the horrors that could have occurred if this victim had been real and if there were no efforts made to stop this type of perversion," said McCollum. "Without the dedicated work by this unit, countless children would be at the mercy of these Internet predators."
Smith pled guilty to two counts of soliciting an illegal act from a minor via an online service and one count of transmission of material harmful to minors, both third- degree felonies.
Smith's arrest was the 17th arrest made by officers with the Child Predator CyberCrime Unit since its inception only eight months earlier. The unit has arrested a total of 34 sexual predators in only fifteen months and is expanding enforcement and prosecution of these crimes in Florida.
The CyberCrime Unit's mission statement directs it to protect children from computer-facilitated sexual exploitation. Unit members do this by working cooperatively on a statewide basis with law enforcement agencies and prosecutors to provide resources and expertise, while preventing the spread of these crimes through education and community awareness. The agencies involved in this case were all members of the North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, a federally funded program working nationwide to educate and support law enforcement to stop Internet crime against children.
