Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
Teacher held in child sex ring
Popular math instructor at North High School accused of smuggling Mexican boys to U.S.
By Karen Abbott
Denver Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer
Federal agents have arrested a popular Denver teacher, accusing him of smuggling Mexican boys to the United States for homosexual sex.
Michael Charles Smith, 50, also is accused of belonging to a ring of pedophiles who used an Acapulco house for vacations that included sex with boys. The boys were runaways and residents of an orphanage, according to court documents.
Smith, who teaches math at North High School, was arrested Wednesday by U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service agents at his Denver home at 178 W. Byers Place. Computers and other items were seized from his house, a neighbor said.
Three young Mexicans, all in the United States illegally, lived there with Smith, federal officials said.
One of them, now 26, had lived with Smith since he was 16. Another, now 19, had lived there five years. There was little information on the third young man.
"I am as shocked by these charges as I am sure he and his family are," said Smith's attorney, Roger Moore.
Smith, who is in federal custody, could not be reached for comment. Moore said Smith recently underwent heart bypass surgery.
Neighbor Darlene Sheek, 33, said she thought Smith was a nice guy, but strange.
"It was always as if he lived two lives. I would always be seeing him with all these young boys ... a lot of young Mexican boys."
She said youths living at Smith's house stayed inside most of the time. "The only time you'd see them is when they left for school or came outside to walk the dog."
Smith and at least five other men used a "bed and board" house in Acapulco where they vacationed to have sex with Mexican boys, according to court documents filed by the U.S. attorney's office. An Indiana member of the sex ring owned the Acapulco house, the documents said.
Federal agents said Smith had traveled to and from Mexico since at least 1988 and was most recently there in December.
Mark Stevens, a Denver Public Schools spokesman, said Smith had no record of inappropriate conduct with students or staff. He had taught in DPS schools since 1972 and at North since 1982.
Stevens said district officials will conduct their own investigation, beginning today when they visit North to talk with anyone who might have had a problem with Smith. "We want to make sure all his work here was appropriate, and that we have no potential victims here," Stevens said.
The men in the suspected pedophile ring kept photographs and videos in computers of young Mexican boys, sometimes in explicitly sexual poses and activities, and exchanged them over the Internet, according to court records.
Authorities began investigating Smith last September after a U.S. Customs Service agent in Chicago learned about the Acapulco "safe house for pedophiles," as one agent called it in court documents, from two members of the ring in Indiana.
Agents investigating Smith in Denver kept his house under surveillance, followed him to his job at North High School and sifted his garbage to read discarded mail, according to court documents.
Earlier this month, a 14-year-old Acapulco boy told authorities in Mexico more details about the ring and Smith's participation in it, the documents said.
"The juvenile said Smith ... and others were part of a group of men who were having sex with minor Mexican males, who they also photograph and film, and pass the images amongst themselves," they said.
The juvenile claimed he saw Smith and several male juveniles "all naked and gathered in a room" at the Acapulco house.
"The juvenile said he saw Mexican males as young as approximately 16 years of age at Smith's house in Acapulco smoking marijuana," court documents said.
A young Mexican national living in Indiana told authorities that Smith helped smuggle him into the United States last year, court documents show. The youth, who wasn't certain of his own age, said he met Smith in Acapulco and had sex with him several years ago, when he was about 15.
This isn't Smith's first brush with immigration authorities over Mexican boys.
Federal agents said he was stopped at the U.S.-Mexican border in Nogales, Ariz., in 1991, trying to smuggle a juvenile boy into the country illegally.
That boy, 17 at the time, had identification cards naming him as a Denver West High School student. He told authorities he already had been living illegally in the United States for more than a year. Now 26, he has lived with Smith in Denver for a decade, court documents show.
Authorities said a search of Smith's garbage last fall uncovered mail addressed to another Mexican national, now about 19. He lived with Smith for about five years, federal agents said.
Manuel Olmos, U.S. Customs Service agent in Denver, said he began earlier this month to follow another young Mexican who was seen leaving Smith's house and taking a light-rail train to a McDonald's restaurant.
That youth later told authorities in broken English that he was 19. He gave one name to agents but may have given another name at the restaurant, court documents said.
Smith is charged with harboring an illegal alien, a federal crime punishable by up to five years in prison.
Officials said other federal charges are pending against Smith, possibly including importing an alien for immoral purposes, sexual exploitation of children, selling or buying of children, child pornography and transportation for sex.
Contact Karen Abbott at (303) 892-5188 abbottk@RockyMountainNews.com. News staff writer April M. Washington contributed to this report.
Does homophobia have no bounds?!?! The authorities need to lay off this teacher for engaging in his mere alternative lifestyle.
bump
These is the kind of activity they really want protected!!!
Where is Bubbah Gump when we need him?
For all the Freepers in Colorado: Make sure that the Denver Post keeps covering this story and doesn't bury it after a day.
Remember the Post's Sue O'Brien's nasty lash back at the folks who called and wrote asking about where their coverage of the brutal rape-killing of Jesse Dirkhising by two gay men was? Her article was entitled "Our Bias Is To Our Back Yard".
Make sure she NEVER forgets that this happened in Denver, and that it is a LOCAL story that she can't ignore after a wire service report.
When would that be?
Dont ask dont tell
Teacher faces child-porn probe
By Carlos Illescas
Denver Post Education Writer
Feb. 25 - A longtime Denver schoolteacher was arrested this week and charged with harboring an undocumented immigrant and is being investigated for allegedly possessing child pornography and for having sex with children from Mexico.
Michael Charles Smith, 50, was arrested Wednesday on the harboring charge, a felony that carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. The U.S. Attorney's Office also searched his home on West Byers Place looking for, among other things, evidence of child pornography, court documents show.
A Denver schoolteacher for 28 years, Smith taught math this year at North High School, where he has worked since 1982.
He also taught bilingual kids in Spanish and was an excellent teacher, according to North principal Joe Sandoval, said Denver schools spokesman Mark Stevens. "This situation is a complete surprise to us," Stevens said.
Smith was placed on administrative leave with pay while the Denver Public Schools conducts an investigation into the allegations. He is in federal custody and has a detention hearing scheduled for today in U.S. District Court.
According to statements made in court documents, Smith frequently visited Mexico, mainly Acapulco, in 1999, where he would proposition male youths to have sex with him. Court records say Smith also helped smuggle one Mexican teenager into the country. The teen apparently was living with Smith, the records say.
A 14-year-old boy from Acapulco said Smith and other American adults "circulated sexually explicit photographs of minor Mexican males through their computer via the Internet," court records say. Court documents also say Smith "enjoyed photographing and videotaping minor Mexican males." The documents also said Smith was apprehended in August 1991 at the Mexican border while trying to smuggle a 17-yearold into the United States.
Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, confirmed that Smith was arrested on the harboring charge but would not comment on the investigation into whether Smith was a pedophile or possessed child pornography.
"There were parts of the investigation (on the harboring charge) that led us in other directions," Dorschner said. "All I can say is that we're reviewing the materials that were seized pursuant to the search warrant." Details of the investigation into Smith include incidents as recent as this month.
On Feb. 3, court documents say, Smith and another Mexican teen were at a Denver-area store shopping for a cellular telephone when the teen "appeared to be submissive" to Smith as they "intertwined their legs." Smith took a leave of absence from his teaching job for the entire school year in 1999, Stevens said, the same time he was alleged to have been in Mexico, according to court records.
News of Smith's arrest spread throughout the North High student body on Thursday, students said. Sandoval was unavailable for comment.
Do you think 'NAMBLA' has an agenda?
Gotta go wash mouth out......do not even like to say the word!
As the homosexual community believes it to be unfair to paint them with the pedophilia brush colored above, they should be the loudest in the choir of public scorn.
Why would they, ironically, prefer this type of story not be published?
More weird stories out of Denver. Gotta be the water.
I guess we don't worry about setting an example any more. We just had a local HS principle get himself arrested for DUI. The district superintendent stated that since it happened when he was "off duty" there was nothing they were going to do to him. He is the principle of the HS where the majority of the students killed in the worst drunk driving accident in US history (on I-71 at Carrollton, Kentucky, killing a total of 28) attended.
bump
NAMBLA definately has an agenga!
NAMBLA definately has an agenda!
Please don't compare DUI with Raping Children!
Hmm, always funny how anything that puts homosexuality in a negative light doesn't get very far in the media. It's amazing this was carried at all.
Good point.
bump
I wonder if the Indiana pedophiles were also Public School Teachers. Anyone from Indiana know of the other half of this story?
More of teacher's history emerges
Smith was transferred in '75 for providing drug hangout
By Brian Weber
Denver Rocky Mountain News Education Writer
Michael Charles Smith, the veteran Denver teacher accused Wednesday of smuggling Mexican boys to the United States for sex, was transferred from a school in 1975 for renting an apartment where students could hang out and smoke pot.
Phillip Saab, the vice principal at Morey Junior High School, who investigated the incident at the time, said there was no indication Smith was having sex with students.
Saab said Denver police investigated but no criminal charges were filed. "I wrote it up and gave it to our administration and the next thing I knew he was gone," Saab said.
The Morey incident raises new questions about Smith's career with Denver Public Schools.
Until late Friday, district officials were unaware of any problems Smith had had in his 28 years with DPS, especially any that directly involved children.
"We are very concerned about this report," said Mark Stevens, a district spokesman.
Saab was unsure where Smith, now 50, was transferred or if he was disciplined. He said he never dealt with a similar issue in his 341/2 years with DPS.
The district said this week that Smith worked at only two schools: Montbello High School from 1972-82 and North since then. But Montbello did not open until March 1982.
Amy Hudson, a district spokeswoman, said Smith may have worked at Kepner Middle School when he first joined the district.
Stevens said Smith's work history can't be rechecked until Monday.
Smith's attorney, Roger Moore, could not be reached for comment. An associate in his office said Moore would have no comment.
The 1975 apartment was within walking distance of Morey Junior High at East 14th Avenue and Clarkson Street, Saab said. Students went there during and after school in spring 1975.
Saab said he did not think Smith lived in the apartment.
Saab said he recalled that Smith may have rented it in his name and that the students paid for it.
"They (the students) told me they were using it as a kind of hangout place," Saab said. "The kids told me they were smoking pot and that was it.
"And most of the kids were outstanding kids, not discipline problems."
Contact Brian Weber at (303) 892-5245 or weberb@RockyMountainNews.com.
Feds: Suspect was teen's teacher
By Carlos Illescas
Denver Post Education Writer
Feb. 26 - The North High School teacher who was charged this week with harboring a teenage undocumented immigrant not only had sex with the boy in Mexico but also taught him in school in Denver, federal officials said Friday.
According to testimony by a federal customs agent, Michael Charles Smith taught math at North to the teen - one of three Mexican boys Smith helped bring to Denver.
U.S. Customs Agent Manuel Olmos said the Mexican boy also told him Smith wanted them to be a family. "Smith was trying to adopt" the boy, Olmos said.
The teen also told Olmos that Smith had a fake birth certificate with the names of Smith and the Mexican teen on them, Olmos testified.
Officials with Denver Public Schools were checking on whether Smith, a 28-year veteran of DPS, had contact in a school setting with any of the three Mexican boys Smith lived with in his West Byers Place home.
North High Principal Joe Sandoval urged any of his students who believed that they were victimized by Smith to come forward. No one had as of Friday afternoon, Sandoval said.
One North High student who remembered speaking with the victim said he knew that the Mexican boy and Smith were living together.
"I just thought it was a teacher who brought in a foreign student," said North High 12th-grader Raul Ambriz, who was a classmate of the boy.
On Friday, the 50-year-old Smith had another charge brought against him: transporting a foreign minor with the intent of engaging in criminal sexual activity. That charge carries a maximum of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Magistrate Judge Bruce D. Pringle set Smith's bail at $150,000, despite pleas from the U.S. Attorney's office that Smith be jailed indefinitely. Bond is expected to be posted Monday.
Still to be decided is whether Smith will be required to enter a halfway house or wear an ankle monitor to ensure he doesn't flee. Smith has been suspended from his job at North with pay pending an investigation and outcome of the case.
On Wednesday, Smith was arrested for allegedly harboring an undocumented immigrant. In court papers, there were also allegations Smith frequented Mexico to have sex with underage boys, then brought at least three back to Denver.
In court documents, Smith was alleged to have participated in a sex ring involving Mexican teenagers. He allegedly would visit them in Mexico, have sexual relations with them, then bring some back to Colorado. Smith and the others in the ring allegedly used an Acapulco "bed and board" to have relationships with the boys.
Smith and several other adults exchanged child porn via the Internet, statements in court documents say. As of Friday evening, Smith had not been charged in connection with child pornography, although federal agents searched his house Wednesday looking for evidence.
Smith's attorney, Roger Moore, noted in arguments that police interviewed the alleged victims three times before any of them said Smith molested them.
"There's no evidence of child pornography" either, Moore said.
Smith does not have a criminal record, which was a factor in Pringle allowing Smith bail. Smith, however, was detained in 1991 in Arizona for trying to smuggle an undocumented immigrant into the country. He was not charged in that incident.
Officials for the Denver school district said there's really no way to know when one of their employees commits a crime, especially out of state. DPS performs background checks on all its employees, but only before they are hired.
"We do not have the resources or the systems to do background checks of existing employees," said DPS spokesman Mark Stevens.
John Ingold contributed to this report.
It could be that the organized Pedophiles have set up smaller operations since the Larry King/Omaha exposure. Denver seems to have more than it's share of these perverts for some reason.
Wallaby has a lot more on the topic in this recent post -- Sex, Lies, Videotape, Teenagers, Drugs, Blackmail, and Death.
Where is the moral outrage, where are the protest marchs, where are the talking heads on tv?????
bttt
In southern Cal we get a lot of heterosexual pedophilia between teachers and students, and parents and kids. I have always advocated no heterosexual teachers or parents.
I hate to interrupt your brainstorm, but homosexuals do abhor and speak out against pedophilia.
In addition to it being a homosexual plot to keep these stories out of the papers, the victims and their families usually prefer that to. If it makes any difference to you.
Yes, and they are starting their own DC COMICS magazine, with a homosexual superhero. Apparently, this superhero rides in, at the last second, to ensure that the kidnapped/coerced child is buggered properly.
If you defend this, you defend evil. Sleep on that
Anyone know the outcome of this case? So many of these make the press, then disappear.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
[
Top
|
Latest Posts
|
Latest Articles
|
Self Search
|
Add Bookmark
|
Post
|
Abuse
|
Help!
]
FreeRepublic , LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794 Forum Version 2.0a Copyright © 1999 Free Republic, LLC |