TEACHER IN CHILD SEX STING SENTENCED

PFMLIT General, SEX OFFENDERS AND OTHERS IN POSITIONS OF TRUST, TEACHERS SCHOOL STAFF

Denver Rocky Mountain News/Jose Garner

Michael Charles Smith, 50, a longtime high school teacher who was arrested by federalauthorities on suspicion that he belongs to a ring of pedophiles that smuggles young boys fromMexico into the United States for sex and child pornography pleaded guilty May 5 to four federalfelonies. He pled guilty to three counts of harboring an illegal alien and one child-pornographycharge, which involved 16 pictures of boys transmitted over computers. An original charge ofsmuggling a Mexican boy into the United States for sex was dismissed as part of his plea agreementto admit guilt. Smith, a math teacher in the Denver public school system since 1972, was sentencedto the minimum under federal guidelines. He will serve 27 months behind bars, followed by threeyears' supervised parole and registration as a sex offender.