William E. Smith Jr. A former Grundy County, Tennessee, pastor has been sentenced to more than nine years in prison for a 2018 attempted child rape.
William E. "Tim" Smith Jr., 49, was arrested on May 31, 2018, after deputies found him with a girl inside a truck in a wooded area south of Gruetli-Laager. Deputies said they saw Smith pulling up his pants and the underage girl pulling down her skirt, according to a police report. The girl told deputies Smith was supposed to be taking her home when he made a detour to relieve himself. She said he had just started to touch her when the deputies knocked on the truck's window. Smith told police he was a local pastor.
Smith had been the pastor at Palmer Church of God, according to Grundy County Sheriff Cliint Shrum. The sheriff was unsure whether Smith had been the full-time pastor.
On Friday, he pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted rape of a child; a misdemeanor drug charge was dismissed, Grundy County Circuit Court officials said Monday.
Dave McGovern, the 12th Judicial District Assistant District Attorney prosecuting the case, said the recitation of the state's proof at Friday's hearing spelled out the circumstances that would have been presented at trial.
That proof included evidence that Smith was found with a 12-year-old "and he became somewhat intimate with her and that the officers walked up on it - which is a very rare scenario," McGovern said Monday. "Very rarely do you have police witnesses to a child molestation case - but that is in fact what had happened and that was the primary proof along with the Child Advocacy Center interview of the young lady."
Smith is being held in Grundy County awaiting a transfer to the custody of the Tennessee Department of Correction, McGovern said.
Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569. Follow him on Twitter @BenBenton or at www.facebook.com/benbenton1.