Source: US FBI
ABINGDON, Va. – The former Vice Chairman of the Smyth County School Board was sentenced today to 30 years in prison for using at least six minor, male victims to produce child pornography.
Todd Stewart Williams, 54, of Chilhowie, Virginia, pled guilty in April 2025 to four counts of persuading, inducing, enticing, and coercing and attempting to persuade, induce, entice, and coerce one or more minors to engage in any sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing any visual depiction of such conduct, in interstate commerce. In addition to his prison term, the Court sentenced Williams to 10 years of supervised release and ordered him to pay more than $20,000 in assessments.
“Children are spending more time online than ever before, which makes them susceptible to individuals looking to do them harm,” United States Attorney C. Todd Gilbert said today. “It is our job in the law enforcement community to protect our kids and prosecute those who prey upon the innocent. Today’s sentence sends a clear message to anyone who exploits a child: you will be fully held accountable.”
“Todd Williams, who was entrusted with overseeing the education and welfare of students in Smyth County, committed indefensible acts, forever affecting the lives of his minor victims. FBI Richmond will continue working with state and local law enforcement, as well as our partners at the US Attorney’s Office to ensure the safety of our children. We will not let child predators escape justice,” said Stephen Farina, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Division.
According to court documents, Williams’s criminal activity came to the attention of law enforcement in September 2022 when a 15-year-old boy from Oklahoma reported to the FBI that Williams, using the Snapchat username “todd_w3411,” had offered to pay the boy for explicit images of himself. The FBI’s investigation eventually revealed that Todd Williams had sent the boy more than $2,100 in less than six months and exchanged numerous sexual messages with the boy.
The FBI’s investigation positively identified at least 11 victims and has also revealed other victims who have not yet been identified. To conceal his criminal activity, Williams used Snapchat, Signal, and Telegram, all of which are designed so that messages and images can be set to disappear or “self-destruct” shortly after they are received. Williams’s pattern was to find a young boy on Snapchat, befriend the boy, find out what he liked, and solicit pornographic photos and videos from the boy in exchange for money or gifts.
From 2022 to 2024, Williams paid one teen to take photos and videos of the teen sexually abusing his younger stepbrother, who was 8 to 10 years old at the time. As directed by Williams, the teen would approach his stepbrother in his bedroom at night and force his stepbrother to watch pornography and engage in sexual acts. Between November 2022 and May 2023, Williams sent the teen more than $3,600 spread across thirty-nine payments ranging from $50 to $200. At one point, Williams mailed the teen a debit card hidden inside a box of new shoes. Williams instructed the teen how to lie to his mother about the origin of the new shoes.
Williams spent more than $10,000 buying nude images from at least six underage male victims.
In addition to serving on the Smyth County School Board, Williams worked with a school basketball team in Smyth County. Williams used his position with the basketball team to spend time in the youth locker room and surreptitiously record boys in various states of undress, though no genitalia are visible in the recordings. On one occasion, Williams set up a hidden camera to record a young boy using the bathroom on an overnight basketball trip.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Whit Pierce is prosecuting the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit Justice.gov/PSC.