York County authorities have arrested a former teacher who worked at two local schools after allegedly finding child pornography on his home computer.
Timothy Gano Smith, 50, of Tega Cay, turned himself in Tuesday morning to face one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, 2nd degree.
Smith taught at Gold Hill Elementary for years but switched to Pleasant Knoll Middle School this year. According to Fort Mill Schools Chief Communications Officer Joe Burke, the district was made aware of the ongoing investigation involving a former staff member, who Burke did not name.
“This investigation is unrelated to the district and the staff member is no longer employed with the district,” Burke said in October. “As this situation is a personnel matter, by law the district cannot comment further.”
Sheriff’s spokesman Trent Faris said there is no indication that there were live local victims in the Smith case.
“But we also cannot rule them out,” he said. “We honestly have no idea where these girls are from.”
According to an arrest warrant, the offense occurred on July 19 when Smith uploaded, shared, or otherwise distributed a digital file “which contained a visual representation of a minor appearing in a state of sexually explicit nudity when a reasonable person would infer the purpose is sexual stimulation.”
The file was uploaded to the defendant’s Google account, the warrant says. “The file depicts a juvenile female, 10-11 years old, fully undressing. She exposed her buttocks and genitalia to the camera while appearing [to] be using a laptop. This Google account belongs to the defendant.”
The account was accessed from the suspect’s residence. “Probable cause [was] based on police investigation and recovery of evidence,” the warrant says.
The charge of sexual exploitation of a minor in the 2nd degree is a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment.