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Pennsylvania man held in Navajo County Jail on $10 million cash-only bond
By: Donna Rescorla, The Independent
10/27/2006
Email to a friendPost a CommentPrinter-friendlyHOLBROOK - A day after receiving warrant information from the Pennsylvania State Police, police in Holbrook arrested a man wanted in that state on 262 child sexual abuse charges.
Clair James Smith, 56, of Miller Township, Penn., was arrested without incident after being stopped on North Navajo Boulevard about 7 a.m. Oct. 21. Smith was booked into Navajo County Jail on $10 million cash only bond, awaiting extradition to face the charges in Pennsylvania.
A Pennsylvania judge issued a warrant for Smith's arrest after he fled his home sometime after Oct. 15 when he was told he would be arrested the next day. He faced 262 criminal charges including 65 counts of statutory sexual assault, 65 counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, 65 counts of indecent assault, 65 counts of corruption of minors and two counts of aggravated indecent assault.
The release stated the charges against Smith stemmed from an investigation about four boys, aged 14 and 15, who, over the past two years, were alleged to have had "indecent contact" with Smith at his home. He allegedly enticed the boys into his home with money, cigarettes, alcohol and marijuana, according to the victims. They said they had been with Smith either alone or together with the other boys.
The district attorney in the Perry County area authorized extradition from anywhere in the continental United States. Smith was said to pose a threat to any neighborhood in which he might live because he was undetected for nearly two years while enticing boys to his home and committing sexual acts with them.
According to a report from the Holbrook Police Department to the Holbrook Justice Court, Smith was stopped at 286 N. Navajo Blvd., in Holbrook. The report stated they found a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun with four boxes of ammunition in the vehicle when Smith was stopped in his black Ford Explorer.
The traffic stop was made several blocks south of I-40 in downtown Holbrook.
