Mistaken for a Sex Offender

June 17, 2008 — -- Richard Bryan Smith first learned that he had the same name and birthdate as a registered sex offender about 10 years ago, when he was pulled over by the police for a traffic violation. But instead of writing a ticket, the cop hauled him off to jail.

The police soon discovered their mistake: This Richard Bryan Smith was not the sex offender they thought he was.

Nine years later, after Smith brought his family from California to Sweet Home, Ore., in hopes of living a better, slower-paced life, the strange coincidence come back to haunt him.

He said his family's life in the town turned sour about eight months ago, and he connected it to one day when he innocently recounted his mistaken arrest to his neighbors, who he'd thought were good friends.

"When we first moved out here, we met our neighbors Ray and Tracy Kelly," Smith said. "We thought, 'Oh, this is great!' They are the same age as us, they have kids, and we thought this was going to be nice. We became pretty good friends and spent quite a bit of time together."

One afternoon, Smith said, the two families were sitting on his back porch while their kids played outside, and he told the Kellys about the time he was mistaken for a sex offender.

According to Smith, Tracy Kelly responded by saying, "Boy, somebody could really screw you over with that information." Smith said that right then, his wife had a bad feeling and told him she did not trust Tracy Kelly.

Smith, however, said he told his wife, "I don't think so Janine -- she's probably joking."

His opinion has changed. He said he believes that the Kellys have been doing everything they can to make the Smiths' lives terrible.

Smith has filed a lawsuit against the Kellys, seeking $150,000, alleging defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

According to Smith, the Kellys spread the word throughout Sweet Home that he was a registered sex offender who was only living in town because he had made a deal with the FBI to put his past behind him.

Smith said that the Kellys interfered with his family's daily life by trespassing on his family's property and watching his family from their yard in an attempt to intimidate him, although the police have no proof of this trespassing claim. Smith said he became so worried about what his neighbors might do that for six months he left his property only for doctor's appointments.

Sweet Home Police Department Detective Cyndi Pichardo said the Kellys denied distributing the fliers, but Timothy Felling of Albany, Ore., the Kelly family's attorney, said the Kellys did print the first flier and gave it to one neighbor.

"Tracy was fearful for the safety of the kids in the neighborhood and for her own children," Felling said.

The problems didn't start immediately, Smith said.

Last October, about a year and a half after that back-porch conversation, Sweet Home police came to the Smiths' home to question him, Smith said.

He said he was shocked when the police showed up. Janine Smith, however, suspected immediately that their neighbor, Tracy Kelly, was to blame for the officers' visit, he said.

Pichardo said the police did receive a call, but that it was anonymous and there was no confirmation it had come from Tracy Kelly.

Smith told the Sweet Home police that he was not the sex offender, pointing out the differences between himself and the other Richard Bryan Smith: The sex offender is 3 inches taller, outweighs him by 60 pounds and has brown eyes, while his eyes are blue.

Sweet Home police confirmed with California authorities that Smith and the sex offender were not the same man and told the Kelly family that they did not believe that Smith was the sex offender, Pichardo said.

"So I thought the whole thing was over," Smith said. "I couldn't believe that they thought I was the sex offender."

In December, though, Smith said that fliers started appearing, claiming that there was a sex offender -- Smith -- living in the neighborhood.

The alleged harassment didn't stop there, though, Smith said. Although the Sweet Home Police only have records of anonymous calls regarding the Smith family, Richard Bryan Smith believes the Kellys placed most of these calls.

"We would get knocks on our doors at 3 a.m., and the police would say, 'Neighbors said you were having a loud party.' But everyone was asleep," he said. "The Kellys would call the police for whatever reason they could think of.

"And the Kellys would bring their friends over and they'd all stand out there in their yard with their arms folded, watching us. And they would look at us like, 'ha ha ha, look at what we did,'" he said.

"One day, Ray Kelly came 2 inches from my face and screamed, 'I'm not going to believe that you're not that guy until you prove it to me,' " Smith said.

The whole family felt the impact of these frequent disruptions, Smith said. He and his wife do not feel comfortable letting their son, 10, and their daughter, 8, walk or bike around the neighborhood alone. Both children are home schooled, so they have less exposure to groups of children than do other neighborhood kids who attend school. But he said their children soon had even fewer friends to play with as other parents prohibited their kids from interacting with the Smiths.

"The children felt horrible," Smith said. "My kids are depressed, but they don't know it. My wife took my daughter down to peoples' houses to try and find some friends for her, and people always had a reason why their kids couldn't play right then. But my kids are honor students, they've never gone to public school, they're super nice and they made lots of friends in California."

Smith said he fell into a depression as well. He has suffered for years from severe back injuries, which, he said, interfered with his job in California. Smith has been unemployed for nearly five years while his wife works as a full-time caregiver.

Smith said he was afraid to leave his home because he feared his neighbors would do something to his house.

Sweet Home police confirm that Smith reported two incidents.

"On Jan. 15, Mr. Smith himself called in to report that neighbors were plastering printouts of him saying that he was a sex offender," Pichardo said. "He believed it was the Kellys. We contacted the California Parole and Probation Office to confirm that they were not the same person. We actually contacted the Kellys and told them that we believed they were not the same person."

The second incident involved alleged trespassing.

"Mr. Smith contacted the police on April 17 reporting that the neighbors were actually throwing animal debris onto his porch," Pichardo said. "An officer contacted each of the parties involved. There was no evidence that either had trespassed. The Kellys denied Mr. Smith's complaint. Everyone involved was still arguing after the officer left the area."

As a result of everything that's happened, Smith said he and his family are considering moving away from Sweet Home when they can afford it.

"We've just had too many things happen to us here in Sweet Home," Smith said. "Other than the big things, our oil cap went missing from our car, we've had pets disappear and we had someone cram all of our CDs into our car's CD slot. I'm not saying it's the Kellys doing all this necessarily, but even if all of this is settled, I feel like our future in this town is pretty much shot to hell."

Felling said Tracy Kelly wants to tell her side of the story, but she also wants to retain her privacy. He has filed an answer in court, on behalf of the Kellys, stating that the family believed that Smith was a sex offender, but did not harass or defame him.

Smith said that once the suit is settled, he's thinking of changing his name to something very exotic.