Former Smyth County School Board vice chair sentenced in child porn case

The former vice chairman of the Smyth County School Board was sentenced on Thursday to 30 years in prison in a disturbing child pornography case.

Todd Stewart Williams, 54, of Chilhowie, pleaded guilty in April 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.

Williams, who was elected to the school board in Smyth County three times, also worked with a school basketball team in the county, according to court documents, and he used his position with the basketball team to spend time in the youth locker room and surreptitiously record boys in various states of undress.

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His criminal activity came to the attention of law enforcement in 2022 when a 15-year-old boy from Oklahoma reported to the FBI that Williams, using the Snapchat username “todd_w3411,” had offered to pay the boy for explicit images of himself.

The investigation eventually revealed that Williams had sent the boy more than $2,100 in less than six months and exchanged numerous sexual messages with the boy.

The FBI ended up positively identifying at least 11 victims and has also revealed other victims who have not yet been identified.

His modus operandi was to find a young boy on Snapchat, befriend the boy, find out what he liked, and solicit pornographic photos and videos from the boy in exchange for money or gifts.

The most egregious case was ongoing from 2022 to 2024, and involved Williams paying a teen to take photos and videos of the teen sexually abusing his younger stepbrother, who was 8 to 10 years old at the time.

Directed by Williams, the teen would approach his stepbrother in his bedroom at night and force his stepbrother to watch pornography and engage in sexual acts.

Between November 2022 and May 2023, Williams sent the teen more than $3,600 spread across 39 payments ranging from $50 to $200.

All told, Williams spent more than $10,000 buying nude images from at least six underage male victims.