Moore County Sheriff’s Office participates in Operation Southern Impact II – Multi-State Child Exploitation Operation.
On March 14 – 15, 2018 Moore County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Digital Forensics Specialists from other laws enforcement agencies participated in Operation Southern Impact II, an effort made across eight southeastern states to combat internet crimes against children.
During the Operation, Moore County Sheriff’s deputies executed a search warrant at a residence in Pinebluff where they searched multiple electronic devices. Deputies seized more than two hundred and fifty sexually explicit videos involving minor children between the ages of four and seventeen.
Deputies arrested Kevin Scott Smith, age 40, of Pinebluff. Smith is currently charged with ten counts of felony second degree sexual exploitation of a minor and ten counts of felony third degree sexual exploitation of a minor, according to a news release from The Moore County Sheriff’s Office.
Moore County deputies assigned to the North Carolina Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) are continuing to comb through the large quantity of data seized from Smith’s residence in search of additional leads on this case and other investigations.
The Moore County Sheriff’s Office has been an active member of the North Carolina Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force since 2010.
In 2016, Sheriff Neil Godfrey obtained a grant in the amount of $50,000 from the North Carolina Governor’s Crime Commission to provide the Sheriff’s Office deputies with updated training and modern equipment that is now being used by deputies to effectively combat internet crimes against children and to conduct forensic investigations of computers and smartphones seized in other investigations. The Sheriff’s Office provides this service to all of the law enforcement agencies in Moore County.
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
