A teacher with a long record of child molestation charges and convictions, who had worked in at least four Chicago-area Catholic schools since 2024, was fired last week by the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Brett Smith, accused of sexually assaulting children in Cook County, DuPage County and Indiana, had worked in at least four South Side and south suburban Catholic schools, Superintendent of Catholic Schools Greg Richmond wrote in a letter to parents on Sunday. Smith, formerly known as Brett Zagorac, has been charged and convicted several times over the years for criminal sexual assault of a minor, and pleaded guilty in at least one of those cases.
In many of the incidents, his victims were children he was tutoring, according to news reports.
Smith was hired by the archdiocese in 2024 after passing a state background and fingerprint checks, according to Richmond’s letter.
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