A former Kansas Bureau of Investigation deputy director has pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a child.

Fifty-seven-year-old Kyle Smith appeared Thursday before Shawnee County District Judge Cheryl Kingfisher to enter the guilty plea. Prosecutors dropped a charge accusing him of trying to destroy evidence.

The exploitation charge alleged that Smith possessed a photo of a child engaged in sexually explicit conduct in November. Smith faces up to 10 years in prison.

Smith was arrested in early February and has been free on $15,000 bond. His attorney, Thomas Haney, said at the time that the charges involved viewing a publicly available image on a website and that no child was endangered.

Haney has described Smith’s departure from the KBI as a retirement.