IOWA
Nonpareil
Posted: Wednesday, September 5, 2012
By Mike Brownlee
mbrownlee@nonpareilonline.com
A former church volunteer faces up to 30 years in prison over allegations of sexual abuse committed 14 years ago in Council Bluffs.
Bobby E. Smith, 68, of El Dorado Springs, Mo., faces three counts of third-degree sexual abuse and one count of indecent contact with a child. He’s accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy in Council Bluffs during the summer of 1998, according to the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office.
Assistant County Attorney Dan McGinn said Smith met the boy through First Baptist Church in Harlan, where Smith was a volunteer. After the boy was unable to come on a church-sponsored fishing trip, Smith offered to take the boy on a separate, non-church sponsored fishing trip.
The pair went to Lake Anita in Cass County and after the trip traveled to Council Bluffs, where Smith told the boy they’d go shopping. While in route Smith allegedly fondled the victim. Once in the city Smith booked a room at a local hotel.
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