A 44-year-old Michigan man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after admitting to traveling to a Pevely truck stop to have sex with a Jefferson County boy and the boy’s mother – a Festus woman, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Samuel Marion Smith Jr. of Newport, Mich., a prior offender, pleaded guilty in March to a felony charge of traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor. U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry of the Eastern District of Missouri Court in St. Louis sentenced Smith on June 11 to the 10-year term.
In July 2017, Smith and the mother reportedly had sexual contact with the boy in Smith’s truck. The boy was younger than 16 years old at the time, plea agreements said.
The boy’s mother pleaded guilty in December 2019 to production of child pornography and traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. The mother allegedly admitted to sexually abusing her son and taking pictures of him between June 2014 and August 2017, as well as to setting up the encounter with Smith at the truck stop, her plea agreement said.
The investigation into the case began in February 2018 after the boy, who has mental health issues, told a social worker with the Missouri Department of Social Service’s Children’s Division about his mother’s abuse, court records indicate.
The woman’s name will not be published in an effort to avoid identifying her son – the sexual assault victim.
Her sentencing has been delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, lawyers have recommended a 23-year prison sentence for her, according to the plea agreement.
Smith’s sentencing was held using the Zoom online video meeting app, court papers said.
Smith was convicted of felony third-degree criminal sexual conduct in December 1996 in Monroe County, Mich. The victim in that case was between 13 and 15 years old, his plea agreement said.