A Missouri doctor accused of multiple child sex crimes has been taken into custody in neighboring Arkansas after several days at large, authorities said Tuesday.
David Smock, 57, whose lawyer said he provided healthcare services to students at a Christan boarding school, was apprehended at a motel less than 25 miles from the state border on Tuesday night, reported The Kansas City Star. Two warrants were out for his arrest.
Smock is a longtime doctor who worked with Agape Boarding School in Stockton, a Christian school that remains under scrutiny by state officials after five employees were charged by Cedar County Prosecutor Ty Gaither in September with assaulting students.
Stockton is about 130 miles south of Kansas City, Missouri.
Smock was handed eight felony charges by the Missouri Attorney General’s office last week in Cedar County. The charges include four counts of statutory sodomy or attempted sodomy involving a child younger than 14; and one count of second-degree statutory sodomy or attempted sodomy. He also was charged with one count each of sexual misconduct involving a child younger than 15, fourth-degree molestation of a child younger than 17, and first-degree stalking, according to the attorney general’s office.
Smock was also charged Dec. 23 in Greene County with second-degree statutory sodomy, third-degree child molestation of a child less than 14 years of age and enticement or attempted enticement of a child less than 15 years of age, court records show.
All charges stem from one victim.
Craig Heidemann, an attorney who represents Smock, told NBC News that the doctor was in Louisiana for a pre-planned trip when he learned of the charges in Greene County and was planning on coming back to turn himself in. However, he fell ill on his journey back and eventually tested positive for Covid-19 while in custody, the attorney added. “He was never on the run.”
The attorney general alleged that Smock “groomed Juvenile by inviting him over to his (Smock) home located in Jerico Springs where he could play video games, use the gym and basketball court, purchasing a cell phone for him, providing gifts, money, and promised cars once he turned 16 years of age.”
Heidemann said that Smock operates a clinic in Stockton that Agape School students have utilized for medical care but clarified that Smock was not employed by the school.
