CHANDLER, Ariz. — A Valley tutor with a criminal history is now under investigation by multiple agencies after DPS filed a lawsuit last month to try and stop him from getting his fingerprint card that would allow him to work with kids.
Chandler Police say they've received six complaints about Brett Smith's interactions with children that will be followed up by sex crimes detectives.
Michele Gonzalez is one person who reported Smith to Chandler Police in early July.
She said she hired Smith in April to tutor her son with autism, but they stopped after nine sessions after Gonzalez and her husband say they got a gut feeling.
"In hindsight, I wish I had asked more questions," Gonzalez explained. "But I didn’t want to be rude. Is that terrible?"
When she heard about the lawsuit filed by DPS in June, she went back to look at her nanny cam footage recording every tutoring session and says she saw Smith rubbing her son' back.
"The look on his face freaked me out. He was looking at my son so passionately. The way I look at my husband."
In addition to the six reports under investigation by Chandler Police, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office also confirms an open investigation after another family reported Smith's conduct with their son.
Brett Smith’s name used to be Brett Zagorac until Maricopa County documents show he legally changed it in 2019.
Court records show Zagorac was arrested 10 different times in Illinois and Indiana over the past two decades, all related to allegations of inappropriately touching kids.
In some cases, charges were dropped. But documents show he was convicted three different times of misdemeanor battery and served time in jail.
When Smith applied for a fingerprint card to work with children in Arizona, he was originally denied by DPS due to his criminal history.
But in 2019, Smith filed for a “good cause exception” through Arizona’s Board of Fingerprinting, which they ultimately granted in January based on a judge’s ruling that Smith had been rehabilitated.
Documents from that November 2019 hearing, provided in a lawsuit filed by Smith, show that Smith went through therapy and claimed his touches were never sexually motivated.
The hearing documents say he testified that he set rules for himself, including rules to keep space from children he was tutoring and that a parent or older sibling would be in the room with him while he worked.
He started tutoring Gonzalez’s son in April, six months after that testimony.
"He clearly has not been rehabilitated," Gonzalez explains. "My son is non-verbal. So thank God for this video because this is his voice."
Right now, DPS Colonel Heston Silbert is suing the Board of Fingerprinting, demanding it reconsider Smith’s approval.
DPS provided a statement from Silbert over email:
"I have a responsibility to the citizens of Arizona, and before all else, to the children of Arizona, to ensure their safety. It would be unconscionable on my part to give Mr. Smith a clearance card, especially with our knowledge of his criminal record."
Meanwhile, Smith is suing Silbert for refusing to issue him the clearance card, a move that Smith says oversteps Silbert's authority.
Josephine Hallam, the attorney who represented Smith when applying for the good-cause exception, pointed out that Smith has never been convicted of a felony, and sent this statement, that reads in part:
DPS is now smearing Mr. Smith’s name in the media, without knowing the facts or background of his previous case. Additionally, DPS is attacking and has filed a legal suit against the fingerprint clearance board, whose function it is to thoroughly review, gather all relevant evidence, and investigate individuals before issuing a fingerprint clearance card.
Mr. Smith has thoughtfully and lawfully proceeded through the requirements of the state of Arizona to receive his fingerprint clearance card. The misleading and false allegations being presented to the media to incite hysteria, by DPS no less, must stop. DPS is creating a false narrative, and in the process, they are destroying a man’s life.
Smith is not currently facing any new charges.
The Arizona Board of Fingerprinting says at the advice of counsel, it will not be providing a statement at this time.
