PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - U.S. Senator Gordon Smith told prosecutors and federal agents about his own childhood brush with a sexual predator more than 40 years ago.
     
Smith spoke before a conference on child exploitation Wednesday.
     
Smith said he was walking to his elementary school in Bethesda, Md., when a man who often parked near the school summoned him to his car.
     
The man exposed himself and solicited sex. Smith said he ran away and his mother later contacted police.
     
After his public remarks Wednesday, Smith told reporters he has never forgotten it -- and never will.
     
After his speech before the Oregon Child Exploitation Conference, Smith said his personal confrontation with the flasher four decades ago only shows that "perverts" have long preyed on children.
     
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)