A federal prosecutor says in court filings that the former leader of a Kansas foster care agency should not be allowed to attend his daughter’s high school graduation in El Salvador because he is a flight risk.
Robert “Father Bobby” Smith, the former Saint Francis Ministries CEO who is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, 15 counts of wire fraud, and one count of money laundering, asked the court last month to visit his ex-wife and daughter in June in El Salvador. Court filings also show he has entered into plea negotiations.
Smith was required to surrender his passport as a condition of his pretrial release. Skip Jacobs, an assistant U.S. attorney in Topeka, said Friday in a court filing that the passport condition is “not flexible.”
“Given the defendant’s charges, potential sentencing outcomes, connections and family ties to El Salvador, and severe limitations available to the government to extradite defendant from El Salvador should he flee, the government submits the prohibition of defendant maintaining or possessing a passport cannot be removed without creating significant risk of flight,” Jacobs wrote.
A federal grand jury indicted Smith in 2022 following an investigation into alleged financial misconduct. Federal authorities have accused Smith and a co-defendant of conspiring to defraud the foster care agency through fraudulent billing of IT services, and accused Smith of fraudulently using company credit cards to pay for personal expenses. He faces up to 20 years in prison for the conspiracy and wire fraud charges, and up to 10 years for the money laundering charge.
As CEO of Saint Francis, Smith hired his wife, Angela, as vice president and director of international ministries. In that role, she purchased and developed a 55-acre farm in El Salvador with the stated purpose of producing the “moringa” fruit as a new revenue stream for Saint Francis. Smith approved more than $2 million in spending to support her efforts, but the farm never turned a profit, according to court filings.
An internal investigation following Smith’s departure from Saint Francis found that a project manager in El Salvador had asked for and received a credit card so he could use cash advances to bribe government officials. However, the cards were used almost entirely for small purchases of fast food and lodging.
Former Saint Francis accountant Jamie Palenski said she could not identify the purpose of Angela Smith’s numerous trips to El Salvador, and social media posts identify Angela Smith being on the beach while supposedly on business, Jacobs wrote.
Angela Smith has traveled to El Salvador about 20 times in the past three years, Jacobs wrote, apparently spending enough time there to enroll her daughter in a school.
Robert Smith, who now lives in Johnson City, Tennessee, asked the court to fly on June 13 into El Salvador. He would attend his daughter’s high school graduation at Colegio Internacional de San Salvador and would stay at an Airbnb near the apartment where his ex-wife lives with their three other daughters in San Benito. After graduation, the family would travel to the beach community of Los Cobanos. He would re-surrender his passport upon return June 17.
Jacobs said a treaty between the U.S. and El Salvador allows the U.S. to request extradition if Robert Smith were arrested under El Salvador laws. However, there is no agreement that would require El Salvadorian law enforcement to aid in his apprehension.
“In other words, the United States cannot task El Salvador to go and arrest the defendant for the purpose of extradition,” Jacobs wrote. “As such, were defendant to flee to El Salvador, there is little the United States could do legally to ensure his return to the United States.”
“The risk of flight if defendant is allowed to travel to El Salvador is too great,” Jacobs added.
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Story via Kansas Reflector
