Boise police nab Texas man accused of molesting kids; he posed as pediatrician in photos
A 29-year-old Texas man accused of sexually abusing two children was apprehended in Boise last weekend, a Houston police detective said at a news conference broadcast live on Facebook on Thursday afternoon by CBS affiliate KHOU 11 News.
Lee Smith III is listed as a fugitive awaiting extradition on the Ada County Jail inmate roster. He was booked into the jail at 10:09 a.m. Sunday.
Boise police encountered Smith when someone reported “a suspicious vehicle with a flat tire,” Houston Police Detective David Yoon said at the news conference. The responding Boise officer ran Smith’s license plate and driver’s license, then learned that he was wanted in Texas. He was taken into custody without incident.
As far as police know, Smith has no connection to anyone in Idaho — and the state was “not even on the radar of where he might be,” Yoon said. He speculated that Smith might have been headed to Canada.
Yoon said it was in June that he was assigned the case, after the parents of a 6-year-old and a 15-year-old reported that their children were sexually abused by Smith. The parents of the victims told police that Smith fled when they confronted him. Police tracked him down, asked him to come in and give a statement — and he disappeared again.
Smith volunteered at schools and other places where he had access to children.
“He was very active and very clever at how he got around children,” Yoon said.
The Houston detective said investigators found photos of Smith on social media that showed him wearing a lab coat with his name on it and the word “pediatrician” — and posing with children. Others have come forward to accuse Smith of sexual abuse, Yoon said.
Watch the 14-minute press conference at link below:
Katy Moeller: 208-377-6413
This story was originally published October 18, 2018 at 10:18 PM.