Former Mid-missouri Pastor Pleads Guilty to Sex Crimes

Columbia Tribune
April 22, 2016

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/crime/former-mid-missouri-pastor-pleads-guilty-to-sex-crimes/article_24a452e8-5886-58f6-ae2a-bef8fa8d16e5.html

A former Mid-Missouri pastor on Tuesday pleaded guilty to several sex crimes for having sex with at least three underage girls and was sentenced to four years in prison.

Travis R. Smith, 45, of California, Mo., pleaded guilty to two counts each of second-degree statutory rape and second-degree statutory sodomy and one count of sexual abuse. He appeared in Laclede County Circuit Court, where his case was transferred on a change of venue in 2015.

While he was a pastor and youth minister at First Baptist Church in Stover, Smith admitted to forcing himself on at least one teenage girl and having sex with two others. In one case he was accused of pinning down a 16-year-old girl and raping her in 1998. Smith also admitted to having sex with her again in early 1999 in the back of a friend’s truck.

The other cases happened in 2005.

The victim told authorities that she and Smith had sex several times at a cemetery in Moniteau County during the summer and early fall of 2005.

Smith gave her gifts and would meet her late at night, according to court documents, and the girl’s father had twice found the pair together at the cemetery.