Courtesy of Emilee Kuschel, Ozark’s First News:
(Springfield News-Leader) –Dr. David Smock, a physician charged late last month with 11 felony sex crimes against children in connection with his role as Agape Boarding School doctor, pleaded not guilty to the three charges originating from Greene County on Thursday.
Judge Ron Carrier set a preliminary hearing in the case for Feb. 3.
Smock’s attorneys, Stacie Bilyeu and Craig Heidemann, argued that Smock had not been a fugitive from law enforcement before he was apprehended late last month by U.S. Marshals, but that he had been in contact with his attorneys and had planned to surrender himself to face charges in Missouri before contracting COVID-19 and being taken into custody in Boone County, Arkansas.