By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 19:35 EST, 4 April 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 21:12 EST, 4 April 2013 . A former professor charged with viewing child pornography from his first-class seat on a commercial flight to Boston will be spared his jail sentence if he sticks to the terms of his probation. A Boston judge suspended Grant Smith's 2 1/2-year sentence after the Salt Lake City father of two pleaded guilty on Thursday to possessing child pornography. Smith is instead placed on five years' probation, must continue sex offender treatment, comply with Utah sex offender registry requirements and follow restrictions on contact with children and Internet use. Off the hook: Grant Smith, 50, a former engineering professor at the University of Utah, pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on Thursday sparing him jail time . Smith, 50, was a University of Utah engineering professor, recently divorced, before he resigned from his position several weeks after his 2011 arrest and being placed on administrative leave. A fellow first-class passenger reported Smith viewing pornographic images of young girls on his laptop during a November flight, according to prosecutors. Caught: The divorced father of two young children was arrested after a fellow passenger on a flight into Boston saw him looking at the photos on his laptop while in first class in 2011 . Delta passenger Kurt Wade, who broke down in tears while recounting the experience, took a cell phone photo of Smith viewing the pictures before alerting a flight attendant. 'He kept scrolling through the pictures and they became sexual and explicit,' Wade told Fox News. 'Little by little they were semi-nude, then completely nude. Just terrible, terrible stuff. It was kind of sad. Tough stuff to see,' he said. Wade says Smith began to erase the files after a flight attendant told him to turn off his computer that was purchased with grant money while an adjunct professor. 'Even as I was trying to explain it [to an air steward], I broke down. I couldn't contain it. So disturbing what was going on,' said Wade. He also alerted police himself, sending officers to greet their plane at its arrival at Boston Logan International Airport. He added: 'When I was in the interview room with forensic computer police down the hall, they confirmed for me there were other images of sexual activity with grown ups.' When asked if he considered himself a hero, he added: 'No. I think any common sense person would see this and understand what was going on.' Speaking to the Associated Press, Wade added: ‘I feel bad for a lot of people but mostly for these innocent girls. He’s got two young kids and these kids are innocent victims of their father’s behaviour.’ Horrific: Fellow passenger Kurt Wade broke down in tears while recounting the disturbing images he saw on Smith's computer that he says grew worse and worse . The images were mostly of girls between eight and 10 years old, naked or nearly naked, engaging in simulated sex acts. 'These weren't photos of a child in the bath that a parent might keep,' Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley said of the images. 'These were explicitly sexual and extremely disturbing.' Some of the pictures were of children as young as six, the prosecutor said. All files were ones downloaded from a website but police say they also found photos on his cell phone of young girls seen in parks and airports. Attorney and victim's advocate Wendy Murphy told WCVB at the time: 'The notion that someone would be so bold as to view it in public is extraordinary and I'm not sure what the explanation is. 'What we have is the equivalent of a confession. Someone who not only sees it but is smart enough to take a picture of it is very solid evidence. 'Reporting it immediately to law enforcement, law enforcement then being able to do their own immediate investigation - that's a very strong case - at least at this point.' Investigators from Massachusetts State Police told NewsCenter 5's Cheryl Fiandaca that Smith was travelling to Boston to attend a conference for the Material Research Society. Smith, a materials science and engineering professor, has two bachelor’s degrees and a doctorate, and had worked at the university for 14 years.
Grant Smith, 50, has jail sentence suspended by judge so long he sticks to the terms of his five-year probation .
Smith was photographed by a fellow airline passenger looking at child porn on his computer in 2011 .
The former Utah professor and father of two pleaded guilty on Thursday to his crimes .
By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 19:35 EST, 4 April 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 21:12 EST, 4 April 2013 . A former professor charged with viewing child pornography from his first-class seat on a commercial flight to Boston will be spared his jail sentence if he sticks to the terms of his probation. A Boston judge suspended Grant Smith's 2 1/2-year sentence after the Salt Lake City father of two pleaded guilty on Thursday to possessing child pornography. Smith is instead placed on five years' probation, must continue sex offender treatment, comply with Utah sex offender registry requirements and follow restrictions on contact with children and Internet use. Off the hook: Grant Smith, 50, a former engineering professor at the University of Utah, pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on Thursday sparing him jail time . Smith, 50, was a University of Utah engineering professor, recently divorced, before he resigned from his position several weeks after his 2011 arrest and being placed on administrative leave. A fellow first-class passenger reported Smith viewing pornographic images of young girls on his laptop during a November flight, according to prosecutors. Caught: The divorced father of two young children was arrested after a fellow passenger on a flight into Boston saw him looking at the photos on his laptop while in first class in 2011 . Delta passenger Kurt Wade, who broke down in tears while recounting the experience, took a cell phone photo of Smith viewing the pictures before alerting a flight attendant. 'He kept scrolling through the pictures and they became sexual and explicit,' Wade told Fox News. 'Little by little they were semi-nude, then completely nude. Just terrible, terrible stuff. It was kind of sad. Tough stuff to see,' he said. Wade says Smith began to erase the files after a flight attendant told him to turn off his computer that was purchased with grant money while an adjunct professor. 'Even as I was trying to explain it [to an air steward], I broke down. I couldn't contain it. So disturbing what was going on,' said Wade. He also alerted police himself, sending officers to greet their plane at its arrival at Boston Logan International Airport. He added: 'When I was in the interview room with forensic computer police down the hall, they confirmed for me there were other images of sexual activity with grown ups.' When asked if he considered himself a hero, he added: 'No. I think any common sense person would see this and understand what was going on.' Speaking to the Associated Press, Wade added: ‘I feel bad for a lot of people but mostly for these innocent girls. He’s got two young kids and these kids are innocent victims of their father’s behaviour.’ Horrific: Fellow passenger Kurt Wade broke down in tears while recounting the disturbing images he saw on Smith's computer that he says grew worse and worse . The images were mostly of girls between eight and 10 years old, naked or nearly naked, engaging in simulated sex acts. 'These weren't photos of a child in the bath that a parent might keep,' Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley said of the images. 'These were explicitly sexual and extremely disturbing.' Some of the pictures were of children as young as six, the prosecutor said. All files were ones downloaded from a website but police say they also found photos on his cell phone of young girls seen in parks and airports. Attorney and victim's advocate Wendy Murphy told WCVB at the time: 'The notion that someone would be so bold as to view it in public is extraordinary and I'm not sure what the explanation is. 'What we have is the equivalent of a confession. Someone who not only sees it but is smart enough to take a picture of it is very solid evidence. 'Reporting it immediately to law enforcement, law enforcement then being able to do their own immediate investigation - that's a very strong case - at least at this point.' Investigators from Massachusetts State Police told NewsCenter 5's Cheryl Fiandaca that Smith was travelling to Boston to attend a conference for the Material Research Society. Smith, a materials science and engineering professor, has two bachelor’s degrees and a doctorate, and had worked at the university for 14 years.
jail sentence if he sticks to the terms of his probation. A Boston judge suspended Grant Smith's father of two pleaded guilty on Thursday to former engineering professor at the University of Smith, 50, was a University of Utah engineering in 2011 . Delta passenger Kurt Wade, who broke