Another Possible Victim of Child Molester Found

Ventura County prosecutors said Friday they may have located another child molestation victim of Gregory Scott Smith, who is on death row for the murder and sexual assault of an 8-year-old boy whose body was set on fire in the hills near Simi Valley.

The alleged molestation came to light only a few weeks ago but occurred in 1985, five years before Smith kidnaped Paul Bailly from outside his Northridge school and killed him, Deputy Dist. Atty. Gregory D. Totten said.

The information has been forwarded to the state Board of Prison Terms to be included in Smith’s permanent file, prosecutors said. Smith will not be prosecuted for the alleged incident, but if his death sentence is upheld and he seeks clemency from the governor, the information can be used against him, Totten said.

Smith, a 24-year-old former day-care aide from Canoga Park, has been on death row in San Quentin State Prison since April, 1992.

Earlier he pleaded guilty to charges of kidnaping, child molestation, forcible sodomy, murder and arson. During a two-month penalty trial that followed, defense attorneys tried unsuccessfully to persuade a jury to spare Smith’s life.

Believing that Smith probably molested other children, prosecutors prior to the trial made extensive efforts to locate other possible victims. Totten said all children at Paul’s school were interviewed, as were those living in Smith’s neighborhood.

“We always suspected that there were other victims out there,” Totten said. “I’m saddened (that we didn’t find any), but I’m not surprised.”

The new victim, who is now 16 and lives in Ventura County, was not interviewed as part of the search, Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Kevin J. McGee said.

The teen-ager revealed the incident for the first time while undergoing therapy earlier this year. He did not tell anyone about the assault before because he was embarrassed and because Smith made threats against the boy’s family, Totten said.

The boy kept the secret even after hearing about what happened to Paul, Totten said.

“That was a very traumatic thing for him when he learned about the boy being murdered, as you can imagine,” Totten said.

The teen-ager has alleged that Smith forcibly sodomized him when he was 8 years old, the same age that Paul was when he died. The boy said the assault occurred in Smith’s home, which is the same place where Paul was molested, Totten said.

Paul disappeared on March 23, 1990, after his mother dropped him off at a day-care program for latchkey children at Darby Avenue Elementary School in Northridge. Smith had worked there until three weeks earlier, when officials fired him after hearing complaints that he treated Paul and other children roughly.

Later that day, motorists found Paul’s handcuffed, burned body at the center of a brush fire off Black Canyon Road in the remote Santa Susana Knolls area. Prosecutors said Smith gagged Paul with five layers of duct tape wrapped around his head and strangled him before dousing his body with gasoline and setting it on fire.

Totten said his office is trying to get financial assistance for the new victim through the state restitution fund.

Prosecutors said they are concerned there are other victims of Smith’s--particularly in the San Fernando Valley--who have not come forward. Anyone who knows of such a victim is urged to contact the Ventura County district attorney’s office, and prosecutors will seek help for those children as well, Totten said.