Youth Pastor Charged With Child Porn, Soliciting Teen

Joplin’s NBC affiliate reports:

A former area youth pastor and college instructor is accused of soliciting a 15-year-old girl for sex and paying her $500, according to Arkansas court documents.

Daniel Williams Smathers, 44, of 3602 Cherry Lane, Joplin was charged in Benton County, Arkansas Circuit Court with traveling for the purpose of an unlawful sex act with a minor and computer child pornography.

The reported victim, along with two other juveniles – a male and a female – allegedly met Smathers at a Bentonville motel, and according to the report, the girls told Smathers their true ages.

Read the full article. The local Baptist church refused to say why Smathers is no longer their youth pastor, but did claim his departure had nothing to do with children. The arrest took place in August (mugshot here), but it’s not clear why it’s just now being reported.