Todd Stewart Williams, a 54-year-old former Smyth County School Board official, has pled guilty to four federal child pornography charges and is awaiting his sentence.
Williams admitted he coerced boys across numerous states to produce pornographic material between 2021 and 2024. He relied heavily on services, such as Snapchat and Telegram, to communicate with the boys and paid them through a variety of means, including CashApp, PayPal, in-app purchases, and, in at least one case, mailing a debit card, federal documents revealed.
Authorities tipped off
A 15-year-old in Oklahoma put Williams on authorities’ radar by reporting him to the FBI in September 2022, federal court documents show.
The teen explained he meet Williams in a Snapchat group for gay teenagers. They began chatting and soon afterward, Williams offered to make in-app purchases in an online video game in exchange for nude images of the teen.
Other boys
The FBI’s investigation uncovered multiple other instances of Williams exploiting minors in a similar way.
In one instance, Williams began contacting a Tennessee boy at age 12. They communicated through services, such as Telegram, and he got the boy to send him images and videos.
Their interactions lasted for three years. During that time, Williams was sending the boy money through CashApp and PayPal and paid him over $2,000, court documents show.
In some instances, Williams would get two minors involved in his perversions. He persuaded and compensated a 15-year-old in Missouri to send pictures and videos of him engaged in acts with his stepbrother who was only eight when the interaction began.
Wiliams also admitted to getting a 16-year-old in Ohio to produce sexually explicit images and videos with his 16-year-old boyfriend in exchange for payment.
Between August 2022 and January 2024, Williams sent the young victim nearly $1,000 in exchange for nude images and videos.
In all, Williams spent more than $10,000 buying nude images from at least six underage male victims, according to federal prosecutors.
“Importantly, this case demonstrates that even those who are entrusted by our communities to oversee the welfare of our children may harbor intentions to exploit them, and for that reason we must be ever vigilant and responsive when our young people report abuse.”
Acting United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee
Arrest & plea
Williams was arrested at his home in Chilhowie in August 2024 and was Vice Chairman of the Smyth County School Board at the time, according to U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia (WDVA).
He pled guilty to four counts of persuading, inducing, enticing, and coercing and attempting to persuade, induce, entice, and coerce one or more minors to engage in any sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing any visual depiction of such conduct, in interstate commerce.
According to WDVA, at sentencing, Williams faces a mandatory minimum sentence of up to fifteen years in prison and up to thirty years.
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