Accused Child Rapist Offered $30k To Kill Victim, Mother: Police

SALEM, MA -- A man accused of child rape believed one of his two victims "screwed up [my] life" and was trying to arrange to pay someone $30,000 to kill the teenage girl and her mother. Scott Smith, 38, of Salisbury, was moments away from being released on bail on Tuesday when prosecutors filed an emergency order to have him held as the plans to hire a contract killer came to light. Investigators say Smith discussed the plans with another inmate at the Middleton Jail where he was being held in June.

Massachusetts State Police filed a charge of solicitation to commit murder against Smith this week. Smith was arrested earlier this year on child pornography charges, prompting two teenage girls to come forward to say they had been sexually abused by him.

According to the Salem News, which first reported this story, Smith told another inmate wanted the girl's death to look like a drug overdose and her mother's death to look like a car accident. He was trying to arrange the murders before he was even charged with child rape, according to court documents.

Smith was cleared last week to live with his mother in Danvers on $1,000 bail and with a requirement to wear a GPS monitoring bracelet by Salem Superior Court Judge Timothy Feeley.

The allegations that Smith tried to hire someone to kill his victims while in the Middleton jail came after last week's hearing where Feeley set bail. But Feeley released Smith despite agreeing with prosecutors that he still posed a danger.

A hearing scheduled for Thursday was reassigned from Feeley to another judge, then delayed at the request of Smith's attorney, who wanted to review new evidence. The new hearing is scheduled for Oct. 15.

Feeley has been under fire for a string of decisions this year that were seen as being too lenient, including a case in May when he ignored a prosecutor's request to impose a jail sentence for a convicted drug dealer.

For more on this story, see the Salem News. Never miss another local news story: Get free local news alerts right to your inbox.

Patch file photo via Shutterstock.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).