A veteran employee of the state Office of Child Support has been charged with sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl.
Authorities say 52-year-old Ricky Alan Smedley of Waterbury assaulted the girl on Sunday.
He pleaded not guilty to aggravated sexual assault against a minor yesterday in Vermont District Court.
Smedley, a 12-year employee of the Office of Child Support, was convicted five years ago for sex crimes against a developmentally disabled girl.
His lawyer says Smedley is a Navy veteran with strong ties to the community and a recent diagnosis as having a brain tumor.
Steve Dale, commissioner for the state Department of Children and Families, which oversees the Office of Child Support, says Smedley has no contact with children or members of the public in the course of his work. Dale, who says Smedley works mostly on the telephone, says the allegations are “very troubling.”