A 23-year-old homeless Portsmouth man faces multiple rape and drug charges. According to court records, Brandon Smith was indicted on June 4th, and Scioto County Common Pleas Court held a hearing around 1:15 pm on Thursday.
Twenty minutes later, deputies booked Smith into the Scioto County Jail on the rape charge. Smith is accused of three counts of first-degree felony rape, kidnapping, two counts of corrupting another with drugs, and one count of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.
Earlier in the year, police took him into custody after a caller reported he was trying to kick in a door on Sunrise Avenue. Officials charged Smith with aggravated burglary.
At the time of Smith’s arrest for burglary, many people defended him on social media, claiming that he’d simply made an innocent mistake knocking on the door and that he was a great guy who had turned his life around.
Just a few months prior to that offense, Smith was arrested after police reports said he brandished a gun at the Oasis Convenient Mart. Officers found him across the street and held him at gunpoint until he could be safely taken into custody.
This is Smith’s ninth arrest. He was picked up for probation violation, drug abuse, and aggravated menacing in 2023. Other arrests include probation violation, fugitive from justice, falsification, possession of drug abuse instruments, and theft.
Smith is due back in court on June 10 for an arraignment on the rape charges, and a hearing on the burglary charges is scheduled for July 10.
