A Memphis pastor was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty on a charge of receiving child pornography.

Demarcus Smith, 32, was a pastor at Oak Hill Missionary Baptist Church in South Memphis at the time the inappropriate correspondence with a minor occurred. Between August 2014 and April 2015, Smith exchanged sexually explicit messages with a teenage boy through Facebook, requesting the boy send pornographic images of himself.

When the allegations surfaced last April, the deacon of Oak Hill immediately let Smith go from the church.

Smith was indicted last August on one count of coercion and solicitation of a minor, one count of production of child pornography, and one count of receipt of child pornography. Had he been convicted on all counts, he could have been looking at around 45 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count.

By comparison, he was let off easy with just seven years.

So I guess God’s looking out for him… if not the child.



