A Henderson County grand jury on Wednesday indicted a local man accused of possessing more than 5,000 images of child pornography.
John W. Smith, 47, Corydon, was indicted on five counts of possession of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor, which is a Class D felony.
Prosecutors with the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office said the five charges submitted to the grand jury for review are “ready to go to trial” and the remaining offenses are pending and can still be brought before a grand jury during another session.
Kentucky State Police have charged Smith with 5,440 counts in November after an investigation by the state police’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Following testimony at a December preliminary hearing in Henderson District Court, Judge Rob Wiederstein continued the case until later this month so the more than 5,400 images of child pornography could be compiled for viewing in court to verify the validity of the charges.
At the time of the December hearing, Wiederstein said he personally was not savvy enough in computer technology to understand how the state police’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force conducted the cyber investigation which led to Smith’s arrest.
Before the hearing was continued, KSP Detective Matt Wise testified that the state police’s ICAC Task Force had been investigating Smith since June using computer software developed by the FBI designed to specifically flag this type of pornography.
On Wednesday, prosecutors with the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office said due to the serious nature of the case, the decision was made to submit the charges to the January grand jury without further action from district court.
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