KANSAS CITY (AP) — A doctor who is charged with 11 counts of child sex abuse should remain in an Arkansas county jail for now because he has COVID-19, the Missouri Attorney General's office said in a court document filed Thursday.
David Smock, of Stockton, Missouri was arrested Tuesday in Harrison, Arkansas, and has been jailed there since then.
His attorneys have asked that he be released on bond or his own recognizance. They argue he has health conditions, no prior criminal convictions, no history of mental health problems and “does have the means to pay his bond.”
A hearing on the bond motion is scheduled for Monday in Cedar County Circuit Court.
Smock is the longtime physician at the Agape Boarding School, Christian school in Stockton. He faces charges in Cedar and Greene counties.
A Greene County judge ruled last week that when Smock was arrested, he should be held without bond pending trial, saying it was reasonable to believe he would not appear on a summons and is a danger to others.
Schmitt argued in his motion that Smock has a long record of sexual abuse of minor boys, that dates to 1988 and extends from California and Arizona to Missouri.