Alton E. Smith, 47,
pleaded guilty to two counts of incest, one count of living off the earnings of prostitution and 52 counts of possession of child pornography.
[...]
Smith, who has been complaining of having difficulty walking, was wheeled into the courtroom on Thursday shackled and sitting in a wheelchair. He was pale and clean-shaven except for a mustache. The scraggly hair on his chin from past court appearances was gone.
[...]
Smith's plea brings closer to conclusion the sordid situation revealed by a Flagler County Sheriff's Office prostitution sting on Carlos Court in Palm Coast in December 2008. An undercover detective answered an ad for an escort on Craigslist. Investigators said Smith placed the ad and was pimping out his daughter as well as having sex with her himself. The incest led to a son who is now in state custody, officials said.
Officials also arrested Smith's wife, Tina Marie Smith, 44, who is his daughter's stepmother.
Tina Marie Smith had been jailed for 15 months until last month when she struck a deal, pleading guilty to aggravated child abuse in exchange for prosecutors dropping 37 counts of possession of child pornography against her. She was sentenced to 10 years sex offender probation and will not be listed as a sex offender.
Today's sentencing will leave only Alton Smith's daughter's case unresolved. His daughter is charged with three counts of incest, child neglect and prostitution.
Smith has been in jail since his arrest in January 2009 when he was captured as he tried to escape by climbing down a six-story balcony in New Smyrna Beach. He will get credit for the time he has spent in jail, and, depending on his behavior in prison, could shave some time off his sentence through gain time. But that's limited since
Smith must serve 85 percent of his sentence.
Under the Jessica Lunsford Act, once released,
Smith will be electronically monitored for the rest of his life. Smith also would not be exempt from possible commitment under the Jimmy Ryce Act, which allows for the involuntary civil commitment of violent sex offenders.
As part of the plea agreement, Smith will receive concurrent sentences in Volusia County where he faces another charge of incest and lewd and lascivious exhibition in the presence of a minor under 16. That's because Holly Hill investigators said
a video shows Smith and his daughter having sex in front of their son at Smith's former photo studio, Hot Shots A1A Models and Photography.
The
15 year prison sentence followed by 15 years probation Smith accepted on Thursday was similar to a deal prosecutors reportedly offered to Smith in July 2009. At the time, Smith's daughter asked him to take the deal but Smith declined.
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