Brett Smith, a former substitute Catholic school teacher and private tutor employed by the Archdiocese of Chicago, has been charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse for allegedly molesting a 9-year-old student he was privately tutoring. The allegations surfaced after the child disclosed the abuse, prompting an investigation that raised serious concerns about Smith’s access to children and institutional oversight.
Smith, who used aliases (BJ S. McAuliffe and Brett Zagorac) and gained unsupervised access to children by offering additional tutoring via Nextdoor, was entrusted to work closely with young students. This position of authority gave him the ability to exploit a child’s trust. Investigators allege that Smith used that access to sexually abuse a minor during tutoring sessions, conduct that remained hidden until the child came forward.
In the aftermath of Smith’s arrest, the child’s parents discovered that he had worked in at least four Catholic schools in the Chicago area over the past 16 months. Recently, Smith has been charged with battery stemming from a separate incident, in which he is accused of making unwanted physical contact with a child. The abuse occurred at Queen of Martyrs Catholic School, where Smith was employed and teaching minor children at the time.
The Archdiocese of Chicago terminated Smith’s employment, stating that it was not previously aware of any sexual misconduct allegations against him. Smith has also been accused of similar conduct in Arizona and Indiana.
The charges against Smith have reignited harrowing questions about how adults accused of sexual abuse move through schools, parishes, and tutoring roles undetected and with little scrutiny. In Smith’s case, a simple Google search by investigators and the public revealed a history of troubling behavior that did not prevent him from continuing to work with children, a familiar pattern in abuse cases nationwide.
For survivors and their families, the damage caused by sexual abuse does not end when the abuse stops. It follows them into adulthood, affecting mental health, relationships, education, and trust in institutions that were supposed to keep them safe.
Cases like this also underscore the importance of civil accountability. While criminal charges focus on punishment, civil lawsuits can expose institutional failures, such as whether schools, churches, or organizations ignored warning signs or failed to act when concerns were raised.
As the legal process against Brett Smith moves forward, one truth remains constant. Children deserve safe learning environments, parents deserve transparency, and survivors deserve to be heard, not decades later, but the moment harm occurs. No institution should ever be a place where abuse is allowed to take root.