A Pennsylvania Democrat, one of five commissioners in the Township of Darby, was arrested for allegedly raping a minor in 2017.
Marvin Smith was charged in a Philadelphia municipal court with committing the following crimes on March 15, 2019: Rape Forcible Compulsion, Statutory Sexual Assault: 11 Years Older, Unlawful Restraint/ Serious Bodily Injury, Sexual Assault, Corruption of Minors, Lure Child into Motor Vehicle, and Indecent Exposure.
He was released after posting $100,000 for bail on December 29, 2021.
Police said the victim told investigators in 2019 that he had been sexually assaulted by Smith in August 2017, according to a report in The Philadelphia Inquirer. The report added that Smith approached the 15-year-old minor in West Philadelphia, in 2017 to offer him a ride home. Smith then allegedly drove the boy to a nearby park where he exposed himself before sexually assaulting the child, police reportedly said. Smith then dropped the victim off at “an unknown location” and drove away, police said in the report.
Smith had been the Township of Darby’s police commissioner until he was forced out last year after posting what appeared to be a staged photo on his personal Facebook account.
According to news reports published at the time, the meme had two Black men pointing guns at a White police officer’s head, framed by the caption: “Does it have to come to this to make them stop murdering and terrorizing us?”
Neither police nor court documents have revealed why it took two years to bring charges against Smith.
“The Township takes these matters very seriously and will cooperate to the fullest extent with any investigation related to Commissioner Smith,” said the Township of Darby officials.
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