MISSOURI
Christian Today
Published 07 January 2015 | Diana Lyn Lopez-Mitjavile
Travis R. Smith, a Baptist preacher charged with felony child sex abuse, got a new court date. Instead of having to appear in court during the first week of January at the Moniteau County Court, the accused is scheduled to appear on Jan. 16.
The 44-year-old Smith was arrested in 2012 for child sexual abuse cases that allegedly occurred in 1998, 1999 and 2005. The charges included forcible rape, statutory rape and sexual abuse. The 2005 charge included alleged acts involving sodomy.
This would not be the first time the preacher has faced a judge in court for child molestation charges. He was acquitted back in 2011 for another sex abuse charge involving a minor.
Smith was arrested by the Missouri State Highway Patrol back in October 2014 following an intensive investigation by one division that worked with drug and crime control. The state police had the accused transferred over to the Moniteau County Sheriff’s Department.
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