Interesting story - especially when you read the part at the end about how this Mr.Smith attacked the critics of the Boy Scouts' battle to exclude gay scoutmasters in the Jim Dale case. And now it turns out he was a paedophile himself, while happy enough to attack out gay people. One often wonders of the motives behind the most homophobic people and this case will make one wonder even more, Vikram Boy Scouts Executive Surrenders in Fort Worth on a Child Pornography Charge By RALPH BLUMENTHAL HOUSTON, March 29 - The longtime program director of the Boy Scouts of America and chairman of its Youth Protection Task Force has surrendered on a federal charge of receiving and distributing child pornography on the Internet, the United States attorney's office in Fort Worth said Tuesday. The director, Douglas Sovereign Smith Jr., 61, who was put on leave last month and quietly retired March 1, was expected to plead guilty on Wednesday to the single felony count filed by federal prosecutors, a crime that can carry a prison term of 5 to 20 years, said Kathy Colvin, a spokeswoman for the United States attorney's office. Ms. Colvin said that a prosecutor's filing, rather than a grand jury indictment, was commonly used to charge a defendant when a guilty plea was anticipated. The filing charges Mr. Smith with knowingly receiving and sending "computer images which contained photographs of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct." Mr. Smith, program director since 1996 and a scouting official for 39 years, did not respond to a message left on his telephone in Colleyville, near Fort Worth. His lawyer, Jack Strickland, also did not return calls but told The Associated Press: "He's not taking this well. I've got to tell you, this is a good man and I would hate to see the entirety of his life and the good things he's done defined by one incident." Gregg Shields, a spokesman for the Boy Scouts, which has its national headquarters in Irving, a Dallas suburb, said: "We're shocked and disappointed. Never in our recollection has an employee ever been charged with anything like this." Mr. Shields said that Mr. Smith had held an administrative post that coordinated Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts programs with churches and schools and did not involve leading troops. "He's always been a good employee," Mr. Shields said. He said there was no record of accusations against Mr. Smith. Mr. Shields said the Scouts learned of the investigation in a visit by agents from the Department of Homeland Security in February and put Mr. Smith on administrative leave. "Shortly thereafter he chose to retire," Mr. Shields said. Ms. Colvin said the investigation had been carried out under Operation Predator, an initiative announced in 2003 by the Department of Homeland Security "to protect children from pornographers, child prostitution rings, Internet predators, alien smugglers, human traffickers and other criminals." The operation's investigative agency is the department's Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which coordinates enforcement actions from what it calls its CyberSmuggling Center in Fairfax, Va. Court records show that the prosecutor's information was filed March 21 and that Mr. Smith surrendered on Friday, when he appeared before Judge Charles Bleil in United States District Court in Fort Worth and was released pending an arraignment on Wednesday. Mr. Shields said he did not know the jobs Mr. Smith held in the organization before becoming national program director. He said the organization had some 7,000 employees and about 1.5 million volunteers. In November 2002, according to a Boy Scouts posting on the Web, Mr. Smith, identifying himself as "National Director of Program and Chairman, Youth Protection Task Force," sent Scouts executives a letter announcing "a groundbreaking initiative for youth protection" and expansion of "our offering of programs to protect youth." As of February 2003, Mr. Smith said, scout leaders, parents and other volunteers could go to the Internet for a training course on protecting scouts while out on tours and trips. He expressed confidence that the Web site would prove helpful "in providing the most wholesome possible environment for young people." When five boy scouts were among 17 young people honored with Congressional Award Gold Medals in 1999, Mr. Smith accompanied the group to Washington and posed with them for a photo in Statuary Hall. Mr. Smith also responded on behalf of the Boy Scouts in September 2004 when a lawyer and onetime Eagle Scout, Bruce D. Collins, wrote a letter taking issue with the Boy Scouts' dismissal of an assistant scoutmaster, James Dale, because he was gay. The case reached the Supreme Court and established the Boy Scouts' right to bar gays under the organization's own First Amendment right of expressive association. Mr. Smith replied that "some intolerant elements in our society want to force scouting to abandon its values and become fundamentally different." He said that Mr. Collins "would do well to communicate his displeasure to those directing their discriminatory assault against his beloved Boy Scouts - the A.C.L.U." Last year, Mr. Smith was honored by the Boy Scouts with a Distinguished Service Award. His nomination read in part, "His visionary support to the National OA Committee has allowed our Order to move to new levels." ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Help save the life of a child. 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