The United States Attorney Jan Sharp announced that 30-year-old Krystal Smith, formerly of Bruning, Nebraska, was sentenced today in Lincoln.

She was charged for the distribution of visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Smith was sentenced to 12 years in prison and 8 years of supervised release with special conditions, she was also ordered to pay $3,000 in restitution.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a cyber tip indicating that Facebook user “Shane Smith” had attempted to share a video of child pornography with another Facebook user in August of 2019. Later investigation determined that Krystal Smith’s husband, Shane Smith, was responsible for this activity.

On February 13, 2020, a residential search warrant was executed at Smith’s residence and Krystal Smith’s personal cellphone was among one of the devices that were seized. An examination of her cellphone revealed sexually explicit files of a child in Krystal Smith’s life.

These files included one video and multiple still photos which included the child’s genital area. The video and images appear to have been taken by Krystal Smith, and she admitted to producing the video and sending it to her husband.

A review of Facebook message conversations between the Smiths additionally revealed that Krystal Smith produced and shared additional sexually explicit images and video files of the child to Shane Smith and had conversations discussing the potential sexual abuse of the child.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

This case was investigated by the Nebraska State Patrol and Homeland Security Investigations.