Hannibal Man Sentenced On Federal Child Porn Charges

ST. LOUIS, MO — Patrick Darrell Smith, 35, was sentenced in federal court in St. Louis last week to 30 years in prison for child pornography. Prosecutors say Smith, who is from Hannibal, Mo., took explicit videos of his girlfriend's 8-year-old daughter on his cell phone. Federal investigators, who obtained a search warrant for his phone after his girlfriend called police, found videos hidden inside an app disguised to look like a calculator.

Smith pleaded guilty over the summer two two felony counts of producing child pornography. He is also charged with statutory sodomy. The Hannibal Courier-Post reported last year that some of Smith's videos showed him engaged in sexual contact with his underage victim.

Smith's girlfriend, Sandra K. Sherman, 27, is accused of child endangerment. According to Marion County Prosecutor David Clayton, Smith was aware of previous sexual contact between Smith and her daughter after the two met online in 2015. She faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.

"It's unfortunate that the law doesn't permit me to charge the mother with more serious crimes," Clayton said in a statement late last year. "Allegedly... [Sherman] allowed her boyfriend to not only remain in the home, but also allowed the defendant to watch the child alone."

Image via Shutterstock