Former Pine Belt teacher pleads guilty to child neglect - WDAM-TV 7-News, Weather, Sports-Hattiesburg, MS

Former Pine Belt teacher pleads guilty to child neglect

Joshua Smith/Photo credit: Forrest County Jail Joshua Smith/Photo credit: Forrest County Jail
FORREST COUNTY (WDAM) -

A former Forrest County Agricultural High School teacher arrested in 2014 for sex crimes against a minor pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.

Joshua Smith, 35 of Poplarville, pleaded guilty to felony child neglect on Feb. 24, 2017, in connection to the original charge.

“On April 24, 2013, in Forrest County, Mississippi, did knowingly and feloniously commit an act which contributed to or tended to contribute to the neglect of a child, to wit: a minor by the (victim), a child who was at the time in question 17 years of age; and the act resulted in substantial harm to the child’s emotional health,” according to Smith’s criminal information filing.

Smith was sentenced to five years post-release supervision in connection to the crime. 

Copyright 2017 WDAM. All rights reserved. 

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