Former Jewish Children's Services Counselor Busted for Prepubescent Child Porn on Tumblr
A counselor working at “Youth and Family/Alternative Incorporated,” a former employee of the “Gulf Coast Youth Jewish Family and Community Services” in Lakeland, Florida was arrested in a child pornography scandal encircling Tumblr.
Tumblr, a website where numerous child sexual predators and other perverse pedophiles once frequented, has come under fire in recent months after iOS booted Tumblr from their app store. Twitter has become the next haven for pedophiles fleeing Tumblr after their purge.
28-year-old William Lee Smith of 110 Laurel Circle in Bartow, Florida was taken into custody after authorities discovered a circle of pedophiles swapping illicit child pornographic materials displaying the torture and rape of young children.
The Polk County Sheriff's Office reports that Smith was arrested on numerous felony counts after an in-depth investigation into the alleged pedophile turned up evidence of receiving and transmitting the child pornography.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd confirmed that Tumblr would later assist, and hand over at least 48 files of child pornography which were known to the database of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
After monitoring the activities of the group on Tumblr, it would be discovered that Smith had sent child pornography via his smartphone and other computer-related electronic devices from his home. Authorities then sought and executed a search warrant at Smiths Laurel Circle home.
The moment the Polk County Sheriff's Office entered Smith's home he began to confess to his “addiction” to child pornography and told Deputies he had “nudes” of children on his phone.
During interrogations with Smith, he would later say that “he does not even like children,” according to local affiliate NWF Daily News.
The Orlando Sentinel goes a step further, stating that Smith confessed to engaging in child porn distribution Smith admitted to trading child porn on Dropbox, Kik, Snapchat and Tumblr. Smith also told Sheriff's Detectives he viewed child porn for about three to five years.
A review of Smiths messaging history on the various platforms showed that he indeed had an interest in children, despite his claims. Smith heavily frequented Tumblr, according to records.
The Polk County Sheriff's Office shows that Smith was currently employed as a counselor for Youth & Family Alternatives, Inc. in Lakeland, which raises enormous concerns about the company's hiring practices.
Youth & Family Alternatives is a “family counselor and adoption agency” on 332 W Highland Dr, in Lakeland, Florida.
YFA is a private not-for-profit program that provides adoption assistance and counseling to children and families in Florida, according to its official website.
Gulf Coast Youth Jewish Family and Community Services are located at 14041 Icot Boulevard in Clearwater, Florida.
On the date the search warrant was executed at Smith's residence, Deputies found photos and files of multiple child victims, as reported by local ABC affiliate Channel 10.
They say there are at least 15 prepubescent children of both male and female sexes that are between 5 and 12 years of age either being raped, molested, or appearing nude in those videos and images.
Smith was immediately arrested and transferred to the Polk County Jail on fifteen Felony counts of Possession of Child Pornography.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd has an extended record of tackling pedophilia and child pornography-related charges in and outside of the State of Florida.
In the last two years, he's responsible for launching numerous operations against Pedophiles. Those raids, including both Operation: Guardians of Innocence and Operation: Guardians of Innocence II, led to the arrest of dozens of perverse pedophiles and child sexual predators.
"As you know, this is just the beginning - once we serve search warrants and seize the devices that these suspects are using to download and distribute pornography, we will do a complete forensic analysis, and in all likelihood we will be adding on more charges related to the felony possession and distribution of images and videos of children being sexually battered, “ Sheriff Grady Judd said. “Most of the images we saw during this investigation depicted children being sexually battered, that we have seen before - which means we haven't yet identified any local child victims, but as always, that is also a part of our investigation.”
Sheriff Judd and the Polk County Sheriff's Office have done excellent work in rounding up alleged pedophiles. They've yet to speculate as to whether either the Youth and Family Alternatives or the Gulf Coast Youth Jewish Family and Community Services will be subject to an investigation as per this arrest.
It would be pure speculation as to whether or not any cases involving Smith, or potential past adoptions could be ruled as needing further examination as a result of Smith's alleged crimes against children.
Members of the public who have information about child-sexual predators are urged to contact ICE by calling the ICE tip line at 1-866-347-2423 or internationally at 001-1802-872-6199.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is also bringing down suspected child-sex offenders through Operation Predator.
You can also contact ICE via the Operation Predator application for mobile devices. ICE has created a smartphone app – the first of its kind in U.S. federal law enforcement – designed to seek the public's help with fugitive and unknown suspect child predators.
It is also time that we as a society hold our elected officials accountable in demanding stricter punishments be enforced with tough new legislation against anyone who would victimize a child, of either life imprisonment, of capital punishment. Oftentimes, they are released and re-offend. There is no rehabilitation for child sex offenders.
When a child is reported missing to law enforcement, federal law requires that child be entered into the FBI’s National Crime Information Center, also known as NCIC.
According to the FBI, in 2017 there were 464,324 NCIC entries for missing children. Similarly, in 2016, the total number of missing children entries into NCIC was 465,676.
NCMEC has circulated billions of photos of missing children, assisted law enforcement in the recovery of more than 284,000 missing children and facilitated training for more than 356,000 law enforcement, criminal/juvenile justice and healthcare professionals.
NCMEC’s Team HOPE volunteers have provided resources and emotional support to more than 63,000 families of missing and exploited children.
