Stover Pastor Accused of Rape Will Stand Trial in June

Lake Expo
December 5, 2013

http://lakeexpo.com/news/lake_news/article_72e3c97a-5dc8-11e3-b784-001a4bcf887a.html

Travis Ray Smith was acquitted of child molestation charges on Sept. 28, 2011. Another accusation of sexual misconduct was also dropped. In October, 2012, the Moniteau County prosecutor charged Smith with six felonies, including sexual abuse, second-degree statutory rape and forcible rape on allegations from two more women stemming from alleged incidents in 1998, 1999 and 2005, when the women were minors.

The case of a Stover pastor charged with statutory rape and sexual abuse will go to a jury trial next year.

Rev. Travis Ray Smith, age 43, is the pastor of First Baptist Church of Stover, Mo.

He is charged with two counts of 2nd Degree Statutory Rape, one count of Forcible Rape, and one count of Sexual Abuse. He pled Not Guilty to the charges at a hearing in the Moniteau County Circuit Court on July 12, 2013.

Over the past four years, Smith has been accused of molestation or statutory rape in the cases of four different girls. Two of those accusations were made in 2010, but one case was dropped and Smith was acquitted in the other.

In 2011, Smith was arrested again on the charges for which he will stand trial on June 2, 2014. The trial is scheduled to last for five days.