This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
An anti-child pornography task force broke down the door of a jailed University of Utah professor's Cottonwood Heights home and police also searched his campus office after the educator was arrested and charged with viewing explicit child pornography on a Utah-to-Boston flight.
Ken Wallentine, spokesman for the Utah Attorney General's investigative division, said the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) unit was forced to batter down the door of Grant D. Smith's condominium Monday night after efforts to obtain a key from neighbors and to "jimmy" the lock failed. Wallentine said he could not reveal exactly what was taken from the home.
"I can say we seized a substantial amount of property from the Smith residence, pursuant to a search warrant obtained from 3rd District Court," Wallentine said Tuesday.
Officers earlier had said they would be looking for computers and electronic media. But on Tuesday, Wallentine said that the warrant was sealed by court order for 20 days to safeguard potentially sensitive information during the ongoing investigation.
Meanwhile, University of Utah spokesman Remi Barron confirmed Tuesday that Smith's office in the Materials Science and Engineering Department had been visited by law enforcement officers as well, though he had no information on what, if any items may have been seized there.
"The university is cooperating fully with the investigation and police have made sure all the evidence that may be related to the case is appropriately secured," Barron said. "It's a pending investigation, so there's not much more I know or can say right now."
Smith, 47, remained behind bars Tuesday at the Nashua Street Jail in Boston, where he was being held in lieu of $75,000 bail. He was arraigned Monday in East Boston District Court, in Massachusetts. He is to appear in court for a pre-trial hearing in court on Dec. 27, said Jake Wark, with the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office.
Smith was sitting in the first-class section of the Delta flight on Saturday when a man behind him allegedly saw what appeared to be child pornography on Smith's open laptop computer. The passenger notified the flight's staff and also told his son via text or email. The son then called authorities, said Massachusetts State Police Trooper Todd Nolan.
Smith was met by Massachusetts state troopers when his flight landed about 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Logan International Airport.
Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said that after Smith granted written consent for inspection of his MacBook Pro laptop, a number of still images were allegedly found that showed young, nude girls, ages 5-14; some appeared to be engaged in explicit sexual activity with adult males. Under Massachusetts law, possessing child pornography is punishable by up to five years in state prison.
Wallentine said a Massachusetts ICAC officer quickly contacted his Utah counterparts, allowing the unit here to quickly ramp up its own investigation into Smith. Information provided by Massachusetts from its examination of Smith's laptop served as the foundation for the Utah search warrant, he confirmed.
"We have remained involved in the investigation since that time and are sharing information back and forth with the Massachusetts folks," Wallentine added.
Smith is a specialist in molecular dynamics working with the school's Center for the Simulation of Accidental Fires and Explosions, an interdisciplinary research group funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, as well as his own research lab.
According to The Associated Press, Smith went to Boston to attend the Materials Research Society's week-long fall meeting.
Smith had been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the criminal investigation. If the allegations are proven true, school officials said they would immediately seek his dismissal.