Man charged with 68 counts of distribution of obscene matter in Hopkinsville

HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. (WKRN) — A man was taken into custody in Hopkinsville Friday after a weeks-long Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) investigation, according to authorities.

The Hopkinsville Police Department said detectives and officers from its Crime Suppression Unit arrested John “Jay” Smith on Friday, Aug. 30 for a warrant charging him with 68 counts of “Distribution of Obscene Matter > than 1 Unit of Matter.”

According to officials, Smith’s arrest followed the conclusion of a nearly two-month-long investigation led by Hopkinsville detectives, with assistance from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office in Ohio, as well as the Kentucky ICAC Task Force .

The Kentucky ICAC Task Force includes members of more than 26 local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, police stated, adding that the ICAC program “was developed in response to the increasing number of children and teenagers using the internet, the proliferation of child sexual abuse material, and the heightened online activity of predators searching for unsupervised contact with underage victims.”

Authorities said Smith has previously been arrested for sexual-based offenses in Ohio. However, no additional details were released about the circumstances for his prior arrest or his arrest on Friday.

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