Alleged victim testifies at hearing for Missouri doctor facing child sex abuse charges

BY LAURA BAUER AND JUDY L. THOMAS

SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI Physician David Smock, who for years treated students at Agape Boarding School, sat in a southwest Missouri courtroom Friday as a teenage boy described how he said the doctor sexually abused him when he was 13. 

Smock asked him to pull down his pants while the two were in the kitchen area of a Springfield rental home, the boy told Assistant Greene County Prosecuting Attorney Megan Vincent during Smock’s preliminary hearing on three child sex abuse charges. 

The boy — who is now 16 and was identified only as “C.M” — said he first refused, but after he was asked several more times, he complied and the doctor touched his penis.

After two hours of testimony — from the teenage boy and two other witnesses — Judge Ron Carrier found “probable cause…that a felony was committed” and bound Smock over for trial in Greene County Circuit Court on all three counts. Carrier set Smock’s arraignment for April 1. 

The doctor also faces 12 child sex abuse counts in Cedar County, including statutory sodomy, sexual misconduct, child molestation and enticement of a child. His preliminary hearing on those charges is scheduled for April 15 in Stockton. 

All 15 counts against Smock — two of those involving a second alleged victim — are felonies. He has pleaded not guilty to each one. 

Smock, 57, dressed in gray striped jail clothes with a medical mask covering his face, appeared attentive during the hearing and conferred multiple times with his attorney, Stacie Calhoun Bilyeu. During the hearing, Bilyeu challenged C.M. at times, pointing out that his details of that day in the rental house were “blurry.” She also repeatedly criticized the investigation conducted by Heidi Fox, of the State Technical Assistance Team, known as STAT, which is a part of the Missouri Department of Social Services. 

“I think this has been a witch hunt,” Bilyeu told the judge at one point during her cross examination of Fox. “And I don’t think this investigation has been done fairly.” 

Bilyeu spoke to The Star briefly after Friday’s hearing.

“A preliminary hearing is just that,” she said. “And we look forward to our next day in court.” 

Smock, who was arrested in Arkansas on Dec. 28, has been held on $250,000 bond in the Greene County Jail since Jan. 5 and is on a hold without bond for Cedar County. The judge handling the Cedar County case on Tuesday heard a motion by Bilyeu to release him on bond, but a ruling has not yet been issued.

Smock came to Missouri from Arizona and in 2006 built an 11-bedroom mansion with an indoor pool and gymnasium in rural Cedar County between Stockton and Jerico Springs. His Stockton Lake Walk-in Clinic has been closed since Jan. 6 “due to unforeseen circumstances,” according to its Facebook page. The post said the clinic would remain closed “until further notice.” 

The Star has reported extensively on Agape and other unlicensed Missouri boarding schools over the past 18 months and investigated Smock’s close ties to the school. In October, The Star reported that two of five Agape staff members charged in September with assaulting students listed Smock’s Cedar County mansion as their address.

Many former Agape students said some boys injured by staff or other schoolmates during physical and sexual assaults would be taken to Smock’s clinic, where Agape leaders said they had been hurt while playing sports. No questions were asked, they said. 

As a doctor, Smock is required by law to report suspicions of abuse or neglect. 

Prosecutors allege that Smock groomed the young male Agape student, buying him a cellphone, taking his family on trips and throwing him birthday parties. 

C.M., the alleged victim, testified for 45 minutes, most of that time on cross examination by Bilyeu. Soft-spoken, the teenager responded with short answers and little, if any, elaboration. 

He said he met Smock when he was 9 or 10 at a gym night sponsored by Agape Boarding School. The two started spending time together after that, he said.

“Sometimes on Sundays, me and my friends went to his house to hang out,” he said. 

He said he would go on overnights with Smock, day trips to Springfield including going to a homeless shelter where Smock volunteered, and out to eat. 

On cross examination, Bilyeu delved deeper into the boy’s connection with Smock, starting when he was an adolescent. 

“Did you and Dr. Smock develop a friendship?” Bilyeu asked him. 

“You can say that, yeah,” C.M. answered.

“It was you that first approached Dr. Smock” about going to his house, Bilyeu said. The boy agreed. 

“I didn’t have a father figure in my life at that time,” he said. 

Bilyeu continued: “Was he nice to you? … Did Dr. Smock throw you birthday parties? Did he take you on trips?” 

C.M. answered yes to all those questions. 

She also asked him if his mother borrowed money from the doctor.

“Is it true that your mother still owes Dr. Smock money?” she asked. 

“Yes.” 

Testimony showed that C.M. asked his mother if he could go live with Smock when he was 14. He eventually did. 

“You asked your mother to go live with Dr. Smock after you said he touched your penis?” Bilyeu asked the teen. 

He said yes.

The teen lived with Smock for a couple of years, court records say. 

According to Friday’s testimony, C.M. said two people witnessed the sexual abuse. One was a person Fox, of the State Technical Assistance Team, referred to as J.H. The other was Jonathan Petrie, who has known Smock for about 20 years and manages the Stockton Lake Walk-In Clinic, which Smock operates. 

Bilyeu made reference to J.H. denying that anything happened and then asked Fox if she ever questioned Petrie during her investigation. She hadn’t. 

Toward the end of the hearing, Bilyeu called just one witness. Petrie. 

He said he had met C.M. through Smock and that he had been around him before. Bilyeu asked about Petrie’s interactions with the teen and whether he’d ever heard Smock say he sexually abused the boy.

And she ended with one direct question. “Have you ever seen Dr. Smock sexually abuse C.M.?” Bilyeu asked Petrie. “No, ma’am.” “I have no further questions,” Bilyeu said.