FORT WORTH, TX (AP) – A former high-ranking Boy Scouts of America official who ran a task force that worked to protect children from sexual abuse pleaded guilty March 30 to a federal child pornography charge.

Douglas Sovereign Smith Jr., 61, was accused of receiving images over the Internet of children engaging in sex acts. He pleaded guilty to a charge of possession and distribution of child pornography.

Smith, who lives in Colleyville, near Fort Worth, faces five to 20 years in prison without parole and up to a $250,000 fine. He remains free until sentencing July 12.

Smith, who worked for the Boy Scouts for 39 years, was a national program director and led the Youth Protection Task Force that worked to shield youth from sexual abuse. But he did not work directly with children, Boy Scouts officials said.

Smith was put on leave in February, immediately after the organization learned of the allegations, and then chose to retire. The charge was brought March 21 and made public March 29.

Gregg Shields, national spokesperson for the Boy Scouts, based in the Dallas suburb of Irving, said the organization was “shocked and dismayed.”

“This is the action of one individual. It certainly doesn’t represent our values or mission,” Shields said.

Law enforcement officials indicated the pictures did not show boys who were with the Boy Scouts organization, Shields said.

Shields said Smith took over the task force two years ago. The task force had been launched in the mid-1980s and soon became widely admired as a model program that provided a website, videos, literature and other resources to adults and boys in the scouts, churches and schools.

Smith’s indictment was a result of an investigation launched last year by Operation Kinderschutz, a joint program started in 1997 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the German Bundeskriminalamt that investigates child pornography distributed over the Internet.

Dean Boyd, a spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the investigative arm of the Homeland Security Department, declined to talk specifically about Smith’s case, but said it is the kind that authorities take special care to investigate.