Investigators seize materials from University of Utah professor's home

COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — Law enforcers say they have seized a "significant amount" of property from the home of a University of Utah professor accused of viewing child pornography while on a flight from Salt Lake to Boston.

Grant D. Smith, 47, remained in official custody Tuesday on $75,000 bail. During an appearance in a Boston District Court Monday, Smith pleaded not guilty to viewing child pornography.

Smith was arrested Saturday after at least two passengers on a Delta flight from Salt Lake City to Boston's Logan International Airport said he had been viewing child pornography on his laptop computer while sitting in first class. The passengers alerted flight attendants who in turn contacted police who were waiting for Smith when the plane landed.

Immediately, both the Massachusetts and Utah Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force groups were notified.

"We have been involved in the investigation into Professor Smith since before the plane landed in Massachusetts," said Ken Wallentine, chief of law enforcement with the Utah Attorney General's Office.

Monday night, Utah's ICAC team served a search warrant on Smith's Cottonwood Heights home. Although Wallentine could not comment Tuesday about what was seized, he confirmed a large number of items were taken from the house.

"There certainly is the possibility of additional criminal charges," Wallentine said.

According to a press release from the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office in Massachusetts, state troopers who arrested Smith at the Boston airport found multiple images of young girls on Smith's computer, some naked and engaged in sexual acts with adult men. The children were believed to be between the ages of 5 and 14.

"These weren't photos of a child in the bath that a parent might keep," said Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley. "These were explicitly sexual and extremely disturbing."

Investigators in Utah were trying to determine Tuesday whether any of the images were made in Utah and whether there are any victims living in the Beehive State.

"We've got good science that 8 out of 10 child porn suspects have had contact with an actual live child — not teens — young children. We have had a philosophy for several years to always look for victims," Wallentine said.