Stover Pastor Charged with Rape
***UPDATE WEDNESDAY 5:30 P.M.***The Moniteau County prosecutor tells ABC 17 News he has been working with the Missouri State Highway Patrol fro several months on the case against Travis Ray Smith.According to court documents, Smith had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl in 2005. The documents state they met through Smith’s church. They allegedly had sexual encounters at the High Point cemetery in Moniteau County and were even caught by the girl’s father at least twice.The documents also say it isn’t the first it has happened. Smith is accused of forcible rape along with sexual abuse and statutory rape in 1998. Those documents say it happened with a 16-year-old girl in Latham. He allegedly forced the teen to the ground and raped her.Smith is charged with second degree statutory rape and second degree statutory sodomy.***ORIGINAL STORY***A Morgan County pastor has been charged for sexual crimes stemming from an incident nearly eight years ago.Travis Ray Smith, 42, of California, Mo. was arrested Monday evening for felony warrants of forcible rape, two counts of statutory rape, sexual abuse, second degree statutory sodomy and second degree statutory rape in Moniteau County. The charges come from an alleged January 2005 incident.Smith was then charged with second degree statutory rape and second degree statutory sodomy. Smith bonded out of the Moniteau County Jail on $20,000 bail.Smith is currently listed as a pastor for the First Baptist Church in Stover.In September 2011, a jury found Smith not guilty of child molestation. He was accused of inappropriately touching a 14-year-old girl.
