Former teacher/youth pastor sentenced for trafficking minors

A former teacher and youth pastor from Joplin has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for trafficking teenagers.

47-year-old Daniel Smathers was found guilty by a jury this week in Benton County, Arkansas, of trafficking of minor persons.

He was arrested in 2022 after he reportedly met with and paid a young girl for sex at a hotel in northwest Arkansas. Court documents say there were two other juvenile victims involved in the case as well.

Smathers had been a tutor at NEO A&M and, years ago, was a pastor at the Diamond First Baptist Church.