ROCKWALL, Texas — A registered sex offender, and former school bus driver, was sentenced to 40 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for multiple convictions related to the promotion of child pornography and secretly recording women and children in the restroom at a popular Rockwall restaurant where he was employed.
ROCKWALL, Texas — A registered sex offender, and former school bus driver, was sentenced to 40 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for multiple convictions related to the promotion of child pornography and secretly recording women and children in the restroom at a popular Rockwall restaurant where he was employed.
46-year-old Michael Paul Smith, of Rockwall County, Texas, pleaded guilty to six counts of promotion of child pornography and 39 counts of invasive visual recording.
Previously, while employed as a bus driver for the Rockwall Independent School District in late 2019 and early 2020, Smith had been arrested and convicted of invasive visual recording for using his cell phone to record up a middle school students skirt as she entered the school bus he was driving. Prior to driving for Rockwall ISD, Smith drove school buses for Wylie ISD for nearly two years.
His conviction in the prior Rockwall case required he register as a sex offender, according to Rockwall County court records and the Texas Department of Public Safety's Sex Offender Registry.
In the latest case, prosecutors say Smith had hidden his cell phone in the bathroom of the women's bathroom at The Fatted Calf restaurant in Rockwall where he was employed as a dishwasher. An employee found the phone, reported it to the manager, who in turn reported it to the Rockwall Police Department in November 2021. The phone, according to prosecutors, was positioned to record those using the toilet.
Investigators say Smith had volunteered to stock the toilet paper in the women's bathroom in his attempts to gain access.
Detectives with the Rockwall Police Department obtained a search warrant to seize Smith's phone and, following a forensic analysis, discovered 39 recordings of women and teenagers using the restroom over a period of several weeks.
Following his arrest, Smith admitted to making the recordings and told detectives he "just wanted to see body parts," and he would be "flattered" if someone had secretly recorded him. The Rockwall Police Department, at the time, had also put out public statements of the arrest and sought additional victims to come forward.
Smith was sentenced in the latest case on Thursday, September 22, 2022, by 439th District Court Judge David Rakow.
“Michael Smith was a convicted felon and registered sex offender and still managed to groom his environment to violate women and teenagers,” stated Rockwall County Assistant District Attorney Justin Almand, following Smith's sentencing. “Thank you to the Rockwall Police Department for its swift and thorough investigation that allowed us to finally remove this predator from our community.”
Rockwall County District Attorney Kenda Culpepper added, “This is another example of when you see something, say something. I am so glad the reporting employee asked questions when she saw the phone in the trashcan and reported her concerns to a manager. Sexual predators unfortunately live among us, and it is up to each of us to report suspicious activity.”