Chicago Archdiocese: Man with multiple child sex abuse allegations taught in schools for over a year

The Archdiocese of Chicago this week said a man with a history of child molestation allegations against him was permitted to work at multiple archdiocesan Catholic schools over roughly the past year.

The archdiocese said in a Jan. 25 email to families that it had fired Brett Smith after he had served as a tutor and a substitute teacher in at least three schools in the area. Smith also reportedly served as a tutor in the home of at least one boy enrolled at an archdiocesan school.

The archdiocese said it was aware of “no allegations of sexual misconduct” leveled against Smith when he served at archdiocesan schools, though it said that “one family in the south suburbs filed a complaint against Mr. Smith with their local police for conduct that occurred while he was tutoring in their home.”

Smith “also goes by BJ Smith,” the archdiocese said; his name was reportedly Brett Zagorac “before he legally changed it” in 2019.

In the email, the archdiocese described Smith’s presence in the schools as “alarming.” It said he “passed state background and fingerprint checks” when he started employment at the archdiocese in 2024.

The archdiocese did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is reportedly investigating the matter; a spokeswoman told EWTN News that it could not comment on an “active investigation.”

The archdiocese did not detail the substance of the allegations of child molestation made against Smith in the past, though some records on the internet appear to corroborate the archdiocese’s claims.

Court records indicate that someone named Brett Zagorac was charged in Indiana in 2005 with an allegation of child molestation stemming from an alleged 2003 incident in which he reportedly inappropriately touched a second-grade boy.

The Chicago Tribune reported in 2016 that Zagorac “served time for inappropriately touching two Schererville students in 2002” and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor battery charge “involving children in nine 2005 incidents involving students at schools in DuPage County.”

He also reportedly “pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery for inappropriately touching a 5-year-old child who he was tutoring in Portage in 2009.”

He was “known for using aliases such as ‘B.J. the Educator,’ B.J. Zagor, B.J. Welhelm, B.J. Zagorac, and B.J. Zagr,” the paper reported at the time.