A 57-year-old doctor of a Missouri boarding school is in trouble for allegedly sexually assaulting children.
On Thursday, an arrest warrant was issued for David Earl Smock, who has been employed as a physician by the Agape Boarding School for long, according to Miami Herald. Smock, who volunteers at a Springfield ministry for the homeless, is also connected to the school through one of his sons who is married to the late Agape founder’s granddaughter, reported ABC News. He is an owner of a mansion with 11 bedrooms that a former Agape staff leader uses to run Legacy Academy Adventures, which is also a Christian boarding school.
The case was filed in Greene County, but the doctor, who earlier said that he works with the boarding school to wean students off medications for behavioral issues, was not in custody as of Friday. The court was closed for Christmas holiday, so the probable cause statement was not immediately available.
He is charged with enticement or attempted enticement of a child less than 15 years of age, third-degree child molestation of a child less than 14 years of age and second-degree statutory sodomy.
A former student of the boarding school told KY3 that he didn’t interact with the doctor on a regular basis, but he is not surprised by the child sex crimes allegations. Cody Shrag said that he always got "weird vibes" off Smock, just from what he had seen, his "personality and stuff." The former student said that it didn’t surprise him, just what he and others "always kind of wondered.” At the school, the doctor, who also has a clinic in Cedar County, would perform physicals on the boys, shared Shrag.
Lately, the boarding school has been in news because of allegations of neglect and abuse. Earlier this year, Cedar County approached the governor for help in investigating the private school. In September, five staff members were charged with assaulting students, and one of the defendants is Smock’s son-in-law.
Shrag said that he went through "lots of physical abuse at the hands of multiple staff members at that school in the span of my three and a half years there." The alleged incidents took place about three years ago.
