Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


A man was taken into custody during a big raid in the Howell area early Tuesday morning in connection with a federal child pornography case.

Kenneth James Smith Jr. is facing charges of distributing and receipt of child pornography, and possession of child pornography in United States District Court.

When contacted, Howell City Police referred WHMI to the FBI Detroit Field Office.

Chief Spokesperson & Communication Lead Jordan Hall referenced strict DOJ policies and provided the following statement to WHMI:

"I can confirm that members from the FBI in Michigan were present earlier this morning, May 5, 2026, in Howell, conducting law enforcement activities. There was no threat to public safety during that time." It was also confirmed the FBI was in the area of Byron Road and Oakwood Drive.

It’s the Oakwood Knolls Condos off of Byron Road and M-59.

Neighbors have been reaching out to WHMI all week. The raid happened around 6am and witnesses said Howell Police, the FBI, and at least eight unmarked vehicles were on scene. Officers in tactical gear were observed, some with weapons out, and the residence was breached after a search warrant was announced. Smith was taken into custody.

The federal complaint states an investigation dates back to October of 2025 due to flagged activity discovered by agents on a peer-to-peer file sharing program. It states agents were led Smith – whose computer had 25,761 files of “investigative interest”. The complaint says several thousand files were shared with the FBI’s undercover computer that monitors child pornography.

The complaint says the FBI executed a federal search warrant at Smith’s residence in Howell and multiple external hard drives and other forms of removable storage were located. Three of the external drives were found hidden in the ceiling of the basement. A preliminary review of one of those found in the celling had a folder labeled “best” that had videos of adults in sexual acts with toddlers and pre-pubescent females.

It was noted that during the search, FBI agents and Task Force officers located a desktop computer in the basement laundry room that appeared to be disassembled and placed in the sink. The complaint stated “the computer appeared to be wet, as if the faucet had been turned on while the computer was in the sink”.

A review of everything seized and the investigation are ongoing.

Court records show Smith is being temporarily detained, ahead of a formal detention hearing May 11th.

The complaint is attached.