Child Porn Pops Up in Businessman's Slide Show
Friday, November 22, 2002
FORT WORTH, Texas — A businessman and former pastor was charged with possessing child pornography after a photo of a nude boy appeared during a computer slide presentation he gave at work, officials said.
Employees at Exel Inc. told police that James Andrew Smith had finished a PowerPoint slide show Sept. 4 when he tried to open another document on his laptop computer. The image of the young, nude boy appeared on screen, according to the co-workers.
Smith blamed the image on a computer virus.
Authorities later found child pornography on computer disks seized from him, according to a police report. The company also turned over 65 pages of printed child pornography allegedly found in Smith's desk.
He was held on $300,000 bond on two counts of possessing child pornography and one charge of promoting child pornography.
Smith was fired from Exel, a Fort Worth-based computer logistics company. He also resigned Wednesday as pastor of Landmark Baptist Church, where he had served for 3 years .
His wife of 13 years, Julie Smith, said the allegations stunned her.
"He's never hurt our children. As far as I know he's never hurt anyone's children," she said.
Child Porn Pops Up in Businessman's Slide Show
Discussion in '2000-02 Archive' started by Pastor_Bob, Nov 22, 2002.
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Pastor_Bob Well-Known Member
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Another black eye for Baptists! Just goes to show you can't judge a book by it's cover or a heart by a denomination label....
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I heard the story on the radio as I was bringing my car back from service this afternoon, and I was shocked. Not merely about the picture popping up on the computer screen, but the way the man tried to cover up his secret lust. It is a real tragedy, when a person, any person, can sink that low. But you know, our Lord is gracious, He forgives sins, He can rebuild tragic lives, and He can restore.....
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Baptist Believer Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
More info on the case...
The church, Landmark Baptist Church, is a small church in a small town north of Denton -- about 1.25 hours away. (Source: local NBC news)
The fellow claims that a virus caused the photo to appear. I don't know if that's true or not (If he runs Windows, he's asking for virus problems!), but the police checked the hard drive of the notebook computer and found a large collection of child porn. (Source: local NBC news)
Personal opinion follows:
I find it strange that a photo of child porn would appear in a PowerPoint presentation accidentally. It sounds like he really did have a virus (but not necessarily one that put child porn on his computer -- just messed with PowerPoint) or that he wanted to get caught. I'm sure they will check the computer for any sort of virus that may have caused some of his problems.
I am reminded of the story I was told of a Texas Anglican priest who wanted to get out of the ministry... He couldn't talk himself into quitting, so he found a woman who would have sex with him on the communion table at the time when worshippers where scheduled to arrive. He was immediately relieved of his duties and removed from ministry. He was too much of a coward to do it himself, so he made it impossible for the church members to allow him to remain. That may be what is going on here. :rolleyes: