The Bitch Predator Didn't Want To Go To Prison, But He Did

Marvin Harrison Smith II stood before a Dalton County, Georgia, judge on November 7th, 2007. He was a restaurant manager from Tifton, Georgia, who had followed in his father's footsteps with his prior work as a Baptist minister. He was a college graduate, a married man, and a veteran of the U.S. Navy with no criminal history facing decades in prison. Seems sad, until you realize that the crime he was convicted of was among the worst examples of the exploitation and victimization of children ever seen by a TV show and an organizations that have dealt with hundreds of these cases, respectively.

For Smith, his trouble began on July 15th, 2006. Using the screen name "swgamaleyes," the 35-year-old claimed to be 23, and soon set his sights on someone he believed to be a 15-year-old named Erin. Over the course of 12 days, he worked his way from inappropriate chat to violent psychological abuse. He started by asking "Erin," really a decoy from Perverted Justice, if she had a boyfriend. When she said no, he repeatedly stated she was cute- too cute to not have a boyfriend, in his words-- before saying he would love to kiss her. It only went downhill.

His chat has, for good reason, been ranked among the ten worst in Perverted Justice history (they have over 600 convictions and hundreds more chats posted). He asked if she had ever dated someone his age and if she was a virgin before offering her $250 in cash to have sex with him, teaching her how to masturbate, and describing how he wanted her to perform oral sex on him and how he would do the same to her. He slowly admitted he was not 23 (claiming to be 26 in the following chat and 30 in a later one) before admitting to having dated a 16-year-old. He seemed obsessed with "teaching" her and asked if she had ever seen a black man's penis. He also knew what he was doing was wrong, making her promise not to tell her parents and admitting he could "have the cops waiting for [him]" and "go to jail." He asked about her breast size, asked for meetings almost daily, introduced the topic of pornography, told her that sex for the first time would hurt and likely cause her to bleed, asked if she was comfortable being naked in front of him, if she had ever been spanked, and then made a shocking revelation.

Turns out that 16-year-old had a 15-year-old friend, and the three had sex. He said he brought over pornography, showed them his genitals, and (using the word "made" repeatedly, as if he did it by forced), described how he performed oral sex on the younger girl, "had" her friend do the same, and had sex with the girl, causing her to bleed. He also admitted to "flirting with" and "kissing" a 14-year-old. THEN, he said he had sex with a 13-year-old girl and her mom and was working on contacting another minor for a threesome with the decoy. He said that he and a 34-year-old friend were trying to get the latter's daughter pregnant, said a 43-yer-old friend wanted to have sex with her, and wanted to arrange for a friend of the decoy to live with them. He asked if the decoy would seduce her stepdad or perform sex acts on her grandfather, sent her pornography, and asked for phone sex, which she declined. He got angry several times before asking about her period and if he could tattoo "BMP" (Black Man's P***y) on her genitals.

To top it all off, he brought them the closest Perverted Justice ever came to catching a female predator. He said he had a 19-year-old girlfriend who wanted to come with and they had multiple phone conversations; apparently, she had to work on July 26th, 2006, and didn't show up to the sting. He did, though, asking for a hug and pursuing the decoy before seeing Dateline NBC's cameras (and, more intimidatingly, Chris Hansen) and running. He kept running, even after the GBI and Harris County Sheriff's Office told him to stop, and, as a result, became the first predator to get the tazer. He was arrested and interrogated, where he admitted he would lose everything he had, and, breaking down in tears, said he didn't want to go to prison.

After two days in jail, he was released on bond on the condition that his wife be present during any contact he had with their children. He was offered a plea deal in which he would get six years in prison, but he declined and decided to take his case to the jury. The case was moved to Dalton County, where, on November 7th, 2007, he was convicted of attempted child molestation, attempted child enticement, and obstruction of justice, receiving a sentence of 13 years in prison with 12 years probation and lifetime RSO status.

His family filed an appeal and held a rally that was attended by 100 or so family, friends, and colleagues. They charged that his prior attorney failed to properly defend him, that he had no prior criminal record, that he had been "entrapped" by PJ, that the shift in venue was improper, that his sentence was too long, and that racial bias was involved. His father, his mother, and his coworkers filed this appeal in May 2008, and it was soon dismissed.

Marvin Harrison Smith II was released from prison on February 2nd, 2013, after nearly six years behind bars. He will remain on probation until 2025 and must register as a sex offender for life. He went back to jail for two months that autumn after a technical violation of the conditions of his release. His wife divorced him while he was incarcerated, but he is reported to have since remarried. He was not convicted of any other offense that we know of, but, according to his chat, he got away with a string of felony sex crimes before being caught in the Fortson, Georgia, sting. He lives in Valdosta, Georgia, and is still active in church life. For a man who holds convictions this deeply and has such a disturbed mind, I doubt prison did anything to change him.

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