An arrest warrant on child sex charges was issued Thursday for a southwest Missouri doctor who has been the long-time physician for Agape Boarding School and owns property that houses another school.
David Earl Smock, 57, is accused of second-degree statutory sodomy; third-degree child molestation of a child less than 14 years of age; and enticement or attempted enticement of a child less than 15 years of age, according to the Missouri online court records system.
Smock was not in custody Thursday night, according to the jail website in Greene County, where the case was filed. Once he is in custody, Smock should be held without bond, the online docket entry said.
“The court further finds reasonable grounds to believe the defendant will not appear on summons, is a danger to the crime victim, the community or another person,” the court record said.
The arrest warrant was signed Thursday and the case is being handled by Greene County Judge J. Ronald Carrier. A message left for the prosecutor handling the case was not immediately returned.
The Star has reported extensively on Agape and other unlicensed boarding schools over the past year. 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 officials claimed they had been hurt while playing sports. No questions were asked, they said.
A well-known physician in the Ozarks, Smock runs the Stockton Lake Walk-in Clinic in Cedar County and has numerous connections to Agape. Besides being the school’s doctor, one of his sons is married to the late Agape founder’s granddaughter. She is the daughter of Robert Graves, a Cedar County Sheriff’s deputy who has been a key Agape staffer as well as a former student.
Two other Smock children are married to former Agape students. Another son pleaded guilty along with a staff member’s son to leading a conspiracy to deface The Islamic Center of Springfield with graffiti in 2011 and burn two copies of the Qur’an.
In addition to Missouri, Smock has active medical licenses in Arizona and California. None of those states indicate that the doctor has had any disciplinary actions against him.
Smock has worked with Agape for many years, providing medical care for the students at the boarding school. Former students have questioned whether he knew of alleged abuse at the school or if he and his clinic staff just took the word of Agape leaders who excused the boys’ injuries as sports-related.
Just last month, Smock was one of multiple veterans honored during a service at Agape Baptist Church. The physician wore his U.S. Navy uniform for the ceremony, which students attended.
Many, especially those in the community and on his staff at the Stockton Lake Walk-in Clinic, have praised the physician.
“I have known Dr. Smock for nearly 20 years and from the moment I met him he makes you feel welcomed,” Jonathan Petrie, the clinic’s manager, wrote on Facebook this year on Smock’s birthday. “Love his heart to help the homeless and make sure they have someone to talk to, pray with and still get medical education.”
The doctor is featured prominently on Agape’s website, supporting the school’s model and encouraging parents to send their troubled boys there. Smock has said on the site that he works with the school to wean boys off medications for behavioral issues.
“Agape Boarding School has had a long history of helping boys and young men gain the skills necessary to cope with given mental health diagnosis and disorders without the use of psychopharmaceuticals,” Smock said. “Once a student on behavior modification drugs is accepted and enrolled, the Stockton Walk-in Clinic and Family Care will evaluate and administer a weaning process.”
In addition to his work in Stockton, Smock also has volunteered at Victory Mission, a ministry for the homeless in Springfield.
The arrest warrant comes as Agape remains under scrutiny after five staffers were charged Sept. 28 with assaulting students. One of the defendants, Seth Duncan, is Smock’s son-in-law.
The Missouri Attorney General’s Office had recommended that 22 staff members be charged with a total of 65 counts involving 36 students. But Cedar County Prosecuting Attorney Ty Gaither charged only the five with 13 counts of low-level felonies. The defendants have court hearings scheduled for January and March.
Smock also has close ties to Brent Jackson, who was a top staff leader at Agape for 18 years, including serving as dean of students. He left the school in 2018, and two years later opened Legacy Boys Academy, another Christian boarding school in Cedar County. Jackson changed the school’s name to Legacy Academy Adventures on Aug. 2.
Legacy, for boys ages 9 to 15, is operated out of Smock’s mansion at 6360 E. 1570 Road, a rural area between Stockton and Jerico Springs. The home, which property records show the doctor built in 2006, has 11 bedrooms, an indoor pool and a gymnasium.
The Star reported in October that two of the Agape staffers facing assault charges — Duncan and Trent Hartman — listed the address of the mansion and Legacy school as their home, according to court records.
Neither Smock nor Jackson responded to requests for comment on that story.
Source: The Kansas City Star
