Joseph Daniel Kelly, Fredrick Lamar Smith Sentenced in Child Exploitation Case

Two men caught in a 2019 federal sting targeting predators seeking sex with minors were sentenced this week in Athens, Georgia. Joseph Daniel Kelly, 45, of Monroe, Georgia, and Fredrick Lamar Smith, 29, of Royston, Georgia, both pleaded guilty to using facilities in interstate and foreign commerce to transmit information about a minor—one of the sharpest tools in the federal arsenal against online child exploitation.

Kelly was sentenced Monday, August 17, to 57 months in federal prison followed by ten years of supervised release. Smith received 46 months in prison and the same ten-year supervised release term on Tuesday, August 18. Both men will register as sex offenders upon release. There is no parole in the federal system, meaning each will serve at least 85% of their sentence before reentry into society.

The arrests stemmed from ‘Operation End Game,’ a three-day coordinated sweep in July 2019 focused on catching adults who traveled to meet minors for sex after initiating contact online. Undercover agents posed as minors in online chats, luring predators to physical locations in the Athens area where they were taken into custody by law enforcement.

U.S. District Judge C. Ashley Royal handed down the sentences in federal court, underscoring the severity of the crimes. The operation was a joint effort involving the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia, the Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit (CEACC), the Athens-Clarke County Police Department (ACCPD), the FBI, and the Athens-Clarke County District Attorney’s Office.

“The punishment is prison for those caught seeking to sexually exploit minor children,” said U.S. Attorney Charlie Peeler. “Rest assured, this office is relentless in seeking the maximum punishment for criminal child predators.” Peeler credited the multi-agency collaboration for dismantling a network of would-be abusers before real harm occurred.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lyndie Freeman prosecuted the case. For media inquiries, contact Pamela Lightsey, Public Information Officer, at (478) 621-2603 or Melissa Hodges, Public Affairs Director (Contractor), at (478) 765-2362. The Department of Justice marked its 150th anniversary in 2020—150 years of enforcing federal law, including the protection of the nation’s most vulnerable.