A teacher and tutor who worked with Chicago Catholic schools, including in Mount Greenwood and Morgan Park, has been charged by police in two suburbs following allegations of sexual abuse and battery.
Brett Smith, 43, was arrested Wednesday by Orland Park police and charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse. On Thursday, Evergreen Park police arrested Smith on a battery charge. According to the Archdiocese of Chicago, Smith had been employed for 16 months as a substitute teacher at Queen of Martyrs Elementary School in Evergreen Park before being fired last week.
Orland Park police said Smith advertised private tutoring services on social media under the name “BJ S. McAuliffe.” Parents hired him as a tutor for their child but became suspicious when payment information revealed his real name as Brett Smith. After searching his name online, they found news stories about previous allegations involving children and contacted authorities.
Evergreen Park police became involved after officers were called to Queen of Martyrs on January 21 to meet with parents who reported concerns about Smith. A school family filed a report regarding a possible incident involving their child.
Detectives determined that Brett Zagorac had legally changed his name to Brett Smith and used several aliases when advertising tutoring services. Police established probable cause that Smith engaged in sexual contact with a juvenile.
Smith has faced multiple allegations over the years. In 2003, he was charged with molesting an 8-year-old boy in Hammond, Indiana; the case was dismissed in 2007 after the victim declined to testify. In 2010, he was convicted of misdemeanor battery after being accused of inappropriate contact with a 5-year-old boy while working as a tutor in Portage, Indiana. During that period, he also advertised tutoring services under another alias and reportedly rubbed a 7-year-old girl’s back during an appointment.
In Cook County in 2017, Zagorac pled guilty to misdemeanor aggravated criminal sexual abuse stemming from an incident in Wilmette involving a 9-year-old boy he tutored. He changed his name to Brett Smith in 2019 after moving to Arizona. The Arizona Attorney General’s Office later accused him of changing his name to conceal his past while applying for clearance to work with children. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to forgery related to this case and received probation.
Police reports from Arizona indicate that since 2019 at least six families have reported Smith for alleged inappropriate conduct.
The Archdiocese stated that Smith also worked as a long-term substitute at St. Walter-St. Benedict School in Morgan Park and Blue Island during the 2024-25 school year and was assigned by a third-party vendor to Pope John Paul II School in Brighton Park at the start of the 2025-26 school year. He also tutored privately for families with students enrolled at Catholic schools in the south suburbs.
In a letter dated January 25 sent to school families, the archdiocese expressed concern about Smith’s presence around students and said it is investigating how pre-employment background checks failed to detect his criminal history. The archdiocese reported Smith to the Department of Children and Family Services; DCFS confirmed an investigation is underway.
Smith is scheduled for court appearances Friday at Bridgeview Courthouse on both charges.
Authorities are asking anyone who believes they or someone under their care may have been affected by Smith’s actions to contact local law enforcement agencies where incidents may have occurred.
