SPOKANE, Wash – A former Spokane newspaper editor and journalism ethics professor will serve 10 years in prison for paying minors to send him explicit photos and videos.
Steven Smith pleaded guilty late last year to sexual exploitation and child pornography charges.
Investigators linked Smith to online depictions of children. Prosecutors say he paid children ages 10, 11 and 14 to send pictures on Instagram using CashApp.
In court Wednesday, Smith told the judge, “I thought I was a good man. Obviously, not so.”
“To the underage victims I have wronged,” Smith said in a statement in court. “No apology can truly mitigate the damage that I’ve done.”
Smith was editor of the Spokesman-Review from 2002-2008. During his tenure, the paper exposed then-mayor Jim West for inappropriate interactions online.
Smith went on to work as a professor of journalism and mass media at University of Idaho.
During the sentencing, Smith said, “To my former students, I learned so much from you. My crimes are, I know, a bitter betrayal. But I tell you now, the classroom lessons were good.”
He tearfully told his students to “Remember the lessons, even as you put out of mind the professor who failed his final exam.”
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