Berkeley County Circuit Court jury finds man guilty of assaulting pastor's son

Ronald Dewayne Smith was found guilty of two counts of sexual abuse by a custodian and one count of third-degree sexual assault

April 12, 2012|By MATTHEW UMSTEAD | matthew.umstead@herald-mail.com

West Virginia Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — After four hours of deliberation, a Berkeley County Circuit Court jury Thursday found a 56-year-old man guilty of sexually assaulting a pastor’s son in 2002, court officials said.

Ronald Dewayne Smith, who was previously convicted in 1995 of sexually abusing a Jefferson County boy in 1976, was found guilty Thursday of two counts of sexual abuse by a custodian and one count of third-degree sexual assault.

Smith is scheduled to be sentenced June 18 by presiding 23rd Judicial Circuit Judge Christopher C. Wilkes, according to Berkeley County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Gregory K. Jones.

Smith faces a maximum of 21 to 45 years in prison, Jones said.

“Based on this, I know he’s not going to hurt any more children,” Jones said after the trial.

Smith was convicted of abusing and assaulting the pastor’s then preteen son on Aug. 18 and 19, 2002, according to Jones.

The victim in the 1976 incident was 10 at the time, Jones said.

The latest sexual allegations surfaced in December 2010, after the victim and his family moved out of the Martinsburg area, according to court records.

The victims in both cases said they knew Smith as “Tim” and described similar sexual encounters with the defendant, according to testimony given in the case and court documents.

The victim in the 2002 case told a state trooper that he met Smith at a church camp in Pennsylvania while his father was pastor of a church in Berkeley County, court records said.

Smith, who is incarcerated in Eastern Regional Jail, was living in Chicago, Ill., before his arrest on the 2002 allegations.

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