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Photos of Abuse Found in a Home's Walls Lead to Prison Time for Father and Son [View all]
Photos of Abuse Found in a Home’s Walls Lead to Prison Time for Father and Son
Old Polaroid images of child sex exploitation were found during the renovation of a California home where Theodore and James Smith had lived, the authorities said.
Theodore Smith and his son James Smith were sentenced to decades in prison for sexual abuse charges after lewd Polaroid photos of children taken in the 1980s and ’90s were found at a home where they once lived. Cherokee County, Texas
By Hank Sanders
Jan. 8, 2025
A man and his son were sentenced to lengthy prison terms on sexual abuse charges after Polaroid photos from the 1980s and ’90s of children being sexually exploited were found in the walls at a home near Sacramento where the two had lived for over 40 years, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s office said on Tuesday.
The father, Theodore Smith, 90, was sentenced last month to 100 years in prison after he pleaded no contest in Sacramento County Superior Court to 11 counts of committing forcible lewd acts on a child and three counts of lewd acts on a child, the district attorney’s office said in its statement. His son, James Smith, 66, pleaded no contest to two counts of committing lewd acts upon a child and was sentenced to 23 years to life in prison.
The authorities were led to the Smiths in 2021, when a new homeowner was renovating an outbuilding on the property where the Smiths had lived in Orangevale, Calif. Polaroid photos and video tapes fell out of the building’s walls during the renovation, the district attorney’s office said. Hundreds of images, taken from 1985 to 1995, showed anonymous children under the age of 14 being sexually abused by adults, according to the authorities.
Law enforcement officers were able to identify the children — now adults — from the photos, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Facebook in 2021. Eventually, investigators connected the images to Theodore and James Smith.
{snip}
Hank Sanders is a Times reporter and a member of the 2024-25 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers. More about Hank Sanders
Old Polaroid images of child sex exploitation were found during the renovation of a California home where Theodore and James Smith had lived, the authorities said.
Theodore Smith and his son James Smith were sentenced to decades in prison for sexual abuse charges after lewd Polaroid photos of children taken in the 1980s and ’90s were found at a home where they once lived. Cherokee County, Texas
By Hank Sanders
Jan. 8, 2025
A man and his son were sentenced to lengthy prison terms on sexual abuse charges after Polaroid photos from the 1980s and ’90s of children being sexually exploited were found in the walls at a home near Sacramento where the two had lived for over 40 years, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s office said on Tuesday.
The father, Theodore Smith, 90, was sentenced last month to 100 years in prison after he pleaded no contest in Sacramento County Superior Court to 11 counts of committing forcible lewd acts on a child and three counts of lewd acts on a child, the district attorney’s office said in its statement. His son, James Smith, 66, pleaded no contest to two counts of committing lewd acts upon a child and was sentenced to 23 years to life in prison.
The authorities were led to the Smiths in 2021, when a new homeowner was renovating an outbuilding on the property where the Smiths had lived in Orangevale, Calif. Polaroid photos and video tapes fell out of the building’s walls during the renovation, the district attorney’s office said. Hundreds of images, taken from 1985 to 1995, showed anonymous children under the age of 14 being sexually abused by adults, according to the authorities.
Law enforcement officers were able to identify the children — now adults — from the photos, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Facebook in 2021. Eventually, investigators connected the images to Theodore and James Smith.
{snip}
Hank Sanders is a Times reporter and a member of the 2024-25 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers. More about Hank Sanders
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