Child Porn on Shared Home Computer
Over the past four years, federal criminal charges in child porn cases has increased nearly threefold. In addition, the average sentence for those convicted is roughly ten years in prison. According to Families Against Mandatory Minimums, most federal child porn offenders had no previous criminal record either.
Now a man from Wolverine Lake and his son face federal charges after the discovery of child porn on their shared home computer.
Child Porn charges should be taken very seriously. And if it’s a shared computer, it may not even be your fault. It’s why you need a good defense attorney by your side. In this case, both father and son face up to 20 years in prison, plus fines, if convicted.
During an investigation that continued to February of last year, a Department of Homeland Security agent traced several child porn files to a home computer shared by a father, Steven Duane Smith, and his son, Steven “Mike” Smith. The agent used software that can find people on file-sharing networks that distribute child porn.
After obtaining a warrant, agents searched the Oakland County home in October. Several pieces of computer equipment and storage drives were found. During an examination of a computer, an agent noticed two separate user names. The first one belonged to the Dad and the other belonged to his son. Court documents indicated that suspected child porn was found under both user names.
In addition, the son admitted during questioning that he had downloaded child porn and started the practice around age 10. He also stated he looked at child porn as recently as the previous month and watched it as frequently as 7 times weekly. He then submitted to lie detector exam and said he downloaded up to 200 child porn files during the past 10 years.
Pending trial, the son is being held in jail. The father was released on bond; however, his location is to be monitored by federal agents. Furthermore, he is not allowed access to the internet and underage children as well, except his own son.