TAMPA, Fla. -- A veteran television news anchorman resigned Thursday after admitting his guilt on charges of procuring prostitution from a teenage girl, his second prostitution-related arrest.
The Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office filed a three-count information charging Hugh Smith with procuring a person under the age of 16 for prostitution, soliciting for prostitution and engaging in prostitution.
Smith, a 56-year-old anchorman for Tampa television station WTVT, surrendered Thursday to face the charges, said Hillsborough County State Attorney Bill James.
In 1982, Smith publicly apologized after pleading guilty to a charge of soliciting prostitution.
'He propositioned an undercover vice cop,' James said.
Smith asked the television station to release the following statement Thursday:
'I have devoted my life to telling the public the truth about the news. I have now been asked to answer to the public about some personal and private conduct of mine.
'I have been confronted with that once before. I could not deviate then from the truth and deny it, and I cannot deviate and deny it now. I am guilty and therefore, in the light of the integrity of WTVT, I have resigned from WTVT this morning.'
David Whitaker, the station's president and general manager, accepted the resignation 'with deep regret.'
'For more than 27 years at WTVT, High Smith has been a leading journalist of the utmost integrity and professionalism,' Whitaker said.
The charge involving the minor is a second-degree felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison, James said. The other two charges are second-degree misdemeanors, punishable by up to 60 days in jail for each.
The charges are the result of an investigation conducted by Tampa police and the Hillsborough County Sheriff's office, James said.
James said all of the alleged crimes occurred in June 1990. He did not disclose the girl's age except to say she was 'under 16.'
