Ex-Episcopal teacher arrested in sex assaults

A Delaware County man who taught at Episcopal Academy for 20 years has been arrested in the alleged sexual assaults of four children at a Cape Cod summer camp 30 years ago.

Richard Perkins Smith, 65, of Media, was charged with rape of a child, indecent assault and battery, and other related crimes. He was arraigned and held on $10,000 bail, according to the Barnstable County (Mass.) District Attorney's Office.

Smith, a 1966 graduate of Episcopal, taught at the school from 1970 to 1990. He then worked in the development office until 1998, according to a school spokesman. He has not been employed at the school since then, according to a statement from headmaster L. Hamilton Clark Jr.

"At this time we are working with local authorities and two attorneys who are experts in this field to determine if there was any inappropriate behavior between Mr. Smith and any of our students during his tenure at our school," Clark said in the statement.

Episcopal is an independent school in Newtown Square for prekindergarten to 12th-grade students.

In 1981, Smith was a counselor at Camp Good News in Sandwich, when the alleged assaults took place. The apparent victims were between 11 and 15.

Prosecutors said they have investigated allegations involving nine potential perpetrators, two of whom are deceased. The investigation took 21/2 years and extended to eight states and one foreign country. The other allegations are not able to be prosecuted, prosecutors said in a release.

Former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts attended the camp in the 1970s. He wrote in his memoir, Against All Odds, that he had been molested at a Christian camp on Cape Cod when he was 10, but he did not name the facility.

The camp later said Brown had been a camper and issued an apology, according to the Associated Press.