Sioux Falls, SOUTH DAKOTA

Nov 15, 2006 -
Steven M. Smith, 55,
Lincoln High School woodworking and welding teacher, pleaded not guilty to one count of possession of child pornography. His trial is scheduled for Feb 13th.

He was arrested in September. "Authorities said he had images on his computer, along with four floppy disks containing 55 images downloaded from the Internet in a file cabinet in his living room. "A federal grand jury indicted him Sept. 19.

Update KELOLAND TV report on "Recognizing Addiction" reveals that Smith's wife went to district officials after their divorce when he had confessed his addiction to tell them about the problem. District officials claim nothing was found on his school computer. Later she gained custody of their two children but not before they had contact with the material that he had transferred to his home computer. Despite that, the District did not inform another district that hired him of the wife's revelations.

He is scheduled to appear in Federal court in February.

Update Dec 12, 2006 - Smith pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of child pornography possession. He will be sentenced March 2.

Update Mar 7 - Smith apologized to his family, his children and his students. But one month last year, court records state Smith accessed 15,500 images. He admits he spent more than a thousand dollars in subscriptions to illegal websites and spent at least an hour a day viewing the material

Smith was sentenced to 6 and a half years. Once he's released from prison, Smith will not be allowed to have contact with a child under the age of 18 and will have to register as a sex offender.