Local elementary school teacher pleads not guilty to child rape charges

SEATTLE -- A 41-year-old elementary school teacher pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that she had sex with a former student starting when he was 14.

Darcy Smith, a teacher at McMicken Heights Elementary School, was charged last week with three counts of third-degree child rape.

Former students showed up at a King County courtroom in Kent Thursday to offer their support for her.


Smith was released on her own recognizance. Her next court appearance is set for March 12.

In May 2014, the former student reported to the King County Sheriff's Office that when he was 12 years old and in the 6th grade, he moved into the Renton home of his 6th-grade teacher, Darcy Smith.  He said that when he was 14, they started having sex and that continued until he was 18 and moved out of Smith's house, a sheriff's detective said in the court documents.

The victim said that he came to live in Smith's home after he broke his collarbone in the 6th grade and Smith took him to the hospital and invited to stay with her family. He said his mother and Smith agreed that he could live with Smith and her family because she spoke English and lived closer to the hospital.

Also, he said, his mother was concerned because his older brother was involved in gangs and was a bad influence.

He said she initiated the sexual contact in 2008, when he was 14 years old. He said he knew it was wrong, but wanted to do it, the sheriff's detective said. The  former student said they would have sex after her husband and children went to bed and on her days off from work.