A Prince George’s County school bus driver was charged with producing child pornography after he left a computer memory card on the check-out counter of a convenience store, authorities said.
Federal agents said 27-year-old Scott A. Smallwood used his cell phone to videotape himself molesting a 7-year-boy whom he befriended on his bus route, according to federal charging documents.
Smallwood, who worked as a bus driver for the school district for five years, faces up to 30 years in prison if found guilty.
“Child predators targeting our most vulnerable members of society is a serious matter and even more disturbing when it involves a school bus driver,” said William Winter, special agent in charge of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Investigations in Maryland. ICE sometimes investigates instances of child exploitation and child pornography.
The probe began in March after a customer at the 7-Eleven store at 6570 Coventry Way in Clinton found a memory card and showed it to a store clerk.
The clerk said he didn’t know who the card belonged to and gave it back to the customer.
The customer, a self-professed computer expert, took the card home and found 10 to 15 videos of an adult male engaging in sexually explicit conduct with a young boy, police said. The customer called Prince George’s County police, who recovered the memory card and the surveillance video at the convenience store.
On Friday, police were able to identify the boy. He told police that Smallwood was his “night” bus driver and someone who took him to church and had the boy over for sleepovers.
Later that day, ICE agents arrested Smallwood at the school district’s Brandywine bus depot.
Smallwood, who lived with his mother and grandmother in the 16000 block of Tanyard Road in Upper Marlboro, admitted that he had inappropriate contacts with the boy at the house of a friend in Accokeek, according to charging documents.
School officials were notified of Smallwood’s arrest Friday and have begun disciplinary action, which could include his firing, spokeswoman Tanzi West Barbour said.
