Sex offender faces jail time over unreported Snapchat account

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — A registered sex offender now must serve at least seven years in prison after a jury on Thursday found him guilty of failing to inform law enforcement about a Snapchat social media account he allegedly used to send illicit pictures, the Buncombe County District Attorney’s office reported.

Following a three-day trial, Richard Nathan Smathers, 41, of Asheville, was convicted of Failure to Inform Law Enforcement of Online Identifiers after he had been required to register as a sex offender, the DA’s office reported. The jury also found him guilty of being a habitual felon, making him subject to a minimum sentence of seven years in prison.

According to a release, Smathers previously had been convicted of four counts of Indecent Liberties with a Child dating back to cases in 2009 and 2010, and in 2021 he was convicted of felony Failure to Inform Law Enforcement of Online Identifiers.

This week’s conviction reportedly stemmed from Smathers’ meeting with a probation and parole officer on June 16, 2023. According to a release from the District Attorney’s office, the officer performed a search of Smathers’ personal electronic devices and discovered a Snapchat account in Smathers’ name that had not been reported previously, as required.

The release states that the officer also discovered that Smathers had sent illicit photographs of his private parts to multiple people via the Snapchat account, and that records found on the device included search terms such as “young gay boys.”

After the jury’s verdicts this week, visiting Mecklenburg County Superior Court Judge Karen Eady-Williams sentenced Smathers to serve 85 to 114 months in state prison, the release states.

District Attorney Todd Williams said in the release: “Note that this sentence’s length far exceeds any of the prison terms Smathers served for prior sex offenses committed against children and that the verdicts and prison term obtained this week demonstrates our commitment to vigorously prosecute existing N.C. law to keep children safe from child predators.”