A Missouri man admitted in federal court on Tuesday to committing acts of sex abuse and bringing video tapes of the abuse with him to Ozark.
Ricky Randall Rex Smith faces 15 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to the child porn-related charges.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Stump said 55-year-old Smith had moved to the Ozark area and taken a construction job remodeling homes around the New Year’s holiday in 2005. In December 2005, Smith apparently left his truck and trailer with all his belongings inside it at the residence in Ozark.
Stump said authorities arrested Smith about six months later in 2006. Stump said investigators found evidence of child pornography stashed inside a hidden compartment in Smith’s trailer.
“He was working some construction job in Dale County and he just walked off,” Stump said. “They found three tapes and two of them had what we call child pornography on them.”
Smith was scheduled for trial Tuesday in federal court, but moments before the trial started, Smith pleaded guilty to the charges. According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Smith was charged by the federal government in 2007 with producing, transporting, and possessing visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
Smith admitted that he had filmed the sexual abuse of several minor children in his care, including a three-year-old girl. Most of the abuse occurred in May 2000 inside a house in Longview, Texas. Smith also confessed to taking videotapes of the abuse to Dale County.
Smith had a 1983 conviction in Missouri for sodomy of a child under 14.
Stump said Smith faces a minimum of 15 years in prison, and could receive a mandatory life sentence because of his prior criminal history.
Agents with the FBI, the Ozark Police Department and the Hartford Police Department worked the investigation.
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