On-the-run sex offender apprehended
Sharon Woods Harris
A former Washington man who fled the state four years ago to avoid prosecution for molesting two children was extradited from the East Coast to face charges and is now free on a $2,000 bond.
Rodney D. Smithee, 34, was apprehended on a suppressed warrant while living in North Carolina, said Tazewell County State's Attorney Stewart Umholtz. A suppressed warrant is used to keep a suspect from realizing he or she is being sought.
According to records, the warrant had a $20,000 bond attached to it. Smithee posted the bond before a bonding court appearance and was released on 10 percent of the bond, or $2,000.
Smithee was charged in 2004 by the state's attorney's office with predatory criminal sexual assault, a Class X felony; and aggravated criminal sexual abuse, a Class 2 felony. If convicted, Smithee could face from nine to 37 years in prison.
According to court records, the mother of a then-9-year-old girl told Washington police on Aug. 1, 2004, that her daughter said Smithee molested her at his residence when she spent the night with Smithee's daughter. Smithee told the girl not to tell and he would take her to a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant.
Smithee also was accused of molesting another child previous to 2004. On Jan. 1, 2002, the mother of a 10-year-old child told Washington police that her daughter had told her Smithee molested her on Christmas night while she spent the night at his home with his girlfriend's daughter. The child resisted and eventually stopped the alleged abuse, court records said.
Smithee was in the custody of the Tazewell County Justice Center. Bond was set at $20,000.
Smithee paid 10 percent of the bond and was released.