BONIFAY – A Bonifay man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for being in possession of multiple items of child pornography, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.
Benjamin Timothy Smith, 49, of Bonifay, was found guilty as charged June 26 of 10 counts of Possession of Child Pornography. Circuit Court Judge Russell Roberts Wednesday sentenced the defendant to 20 years in prison, to be followed by 15 years’ probation. Smith also was designated a Sexual Offender.
The defendant was arrested in October following an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Holmes County Chief Prosecutor Jacob Cook called three witnesses and presented evidence proving that the defendant was in possession of 10 sexually explicit images of girls who
appeared to be between 6 and 10 years of age. Some of the images depicted the victims being sexually assaulted.
The 6-person jury deliberated for 23 minutes before finding the defendant guilty as charged.
RELATED NEWS: Trafficker who failed to appear for trial convicted in absentia
RELATED NEWS: Fraudster guilty of stealing condo from woman, 2 daughters
Testimony and evidence showed that the FDLE received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on May 11, 2023, about suspected upload of images of sexual
exploitation of children. The NCMEC provides services nationwide to prevent the abduction and sexual exploitation of children.
That tip led them to the defendant. Investigators executed a search warrant and recovered the images uploaded by the defendant.
Basford thanked the FDLE and the NCMEC for their successful investigation.
For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.