Coach caught in sex sting faces August hearing date

Joshua Daniel Smith, of Eastman Street, Murfreesboro, appeared before Judge Lee Russell Thursday and was told that the August date will be the last time he will have any say in the disposition of his case.

Smith was indicted by Bedford County Grand Jury earlier this month on charges on two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and two counts of solicitation of a minor.

He has been accused of propositioning a person he thought was a 13-year-old girl, but turned out to be a Shelbyville detective.

Smith is being held in Bedford County jail under a blanket bond of $60,000 and is represented by the public defender's office.

According to warrants filed by Detective Charles Merlo, of the Shelbyville Police Department, Smith "did solicit sex from a law enforcement officer posing as a 13-year-old female minor."

The two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor were allegedly committed by Smith "by displaying to a law enforcement officer posing as a 13-year-old female juvenile, a picture sent through photo share on Yahoo chat," of a sexual nature, Merlo wrote.

According to WSMV in Nashville, Smith was once a baseball coach and physical education teacher at East Hickman High School.

However, Hickman County school superintendent Jerry Nash told the television station Smith wasn't re-hired "after a girl's mother complained about inappropriate e-mails that were being exchanged between Smith and her daughter."

Smith had also applied for a teaching position in Bedford County and, according to the minutes of a 2007 school board meeting in Rutherford County, was in line to be a volunteer baseball coach at a school there, WSMV said.