Prof. who allegedly looked at child porn appears in court

BOSTON -- A professor from Utah appeared in court on Monday after he was accused of watching child pornography while on a flight from Salt Lake City to Boston.

Grant Smith, 47, was placed on administrative leave by the University of Utah, where he served as a professor for 14 years.

Smith was arrested upon arrival at Logan Airport on Sunday after he was allegedly viewing child pornography on his laptop on board a Delta flight.

According to prosecutors, a passenger sitting behind Smith noticed him viewing the images. The passenger then took a picture of Smith viewing the child pornography and emailed it to a relative in Arizona, asking them to contact police, according to prosecutors.

The passenger also alerted a flight attendant.

Police confronted Smith at the airport and asked him if they could look at his laptop. When he consented, they discovered child pornography images.

In court, prosecutors revealed that police discovered dozens of pictures of girls as young as 5 years old on Smith’s computer. When questioned by investigators, Smith admitted he traded images of a pornographic nature with others over the Internet.

On the flight, after being asked by a flight attendant to turn off his computer, he began erasing those files.

A spokesman for the state police issued a statement Sunday, saying:

“One hopes there is a special place in hell for the evil people who make, trade and possess child pornography. Until they get there, we are committed to putting them in jail.”

The University of Utah released a statement on Monday saying they have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to anyone viewing child pornography.

Smith’s bail was set at $75,000 cash. Smith is due back in East Boston court next month. If he does post bail, he was ordered by the judge to stay away from anyone under the age of 16, have no use of the Internet and to surrender his passport.

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