If your child had Brett Smith as a sub, or a tutor called BJ, we believe you both.

Sixteen months in Catholic school classrooms on the South Side, plus a tutoring sideline run under at least four other names. That was all after twenty years of the same complaints in three states. And then July 16, 2026, and a Cook County courtroom, where he pleaded guilty to aggravated battery of a child. The child was 9. His parents had hired the man to tutor him. The question this page asks is simple: was your kid one of the ones he sat with?

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Looking for the page about the place, not the man? Queen of Martyrs survivors.

This applies to you no matter what

Your child never said a word. Most don't, at seven or nine. The Orland Park boy only spoke up while his mother was already at the police station. A change in a kid, a name that didn't match the Zelle payment, a sticker you can't account for. That is enough to ask.
He was only in the building a few weeks. At Queen of Martyrs the complaint covers January 12 through 15. Days, not years.
The Archdiocese said it knows of no misconduct at the schools. It said that on January 25, 2026, and in the same letter said one family had already gone to the police. Neither line is your answer.
You paid him in cash and don't have his real name. Parents in Orland Park knew him as BJ S. McAuliffe. Prosecutors say Wilhelm, too.
Or it was years ago and he wasn't Smith yet. Naperville, 2005. Evanston, 2010. Wilmette, 2014. A school in Lake or Porter County, Indiana. Brett Zagorac, back then. Same man. Different rules may apply, so say so and let a lawyer sort it.
You already went to DCFS or the police and heard nothing back. A criminal file and a civil claim are two different doors.

Brett Smith: what the public record says, and when

None of what's below is ours. It comes from a Cook County courtroom, two suburban police departments, the Archdiocese's own letters to families, an Arizona court filing, and the reporters who covered them. Every line links to its source. One word of care. The conviction on this record is aggravated battery of a child. The sexual-abuse and wire-fraud counts were dismissed when he pleaded, and everything from the years before is a misdemeanor plea or an allegation that never reached a verdict. We say which is which, every time.

2002 to 2017

He was Brett Zagorac for all of this. Indiana first: Lake County convicted him of misdemeanor battery in 2003 over two Schererville students, and two years on, Hammond tried him for child molesting, got a hung jury, and eventually dropped it. Then Illinois, where DuPage County charged him over 13 children in Naperville and Downers Grove and got, in 2007, a plea to one misdemeanor battery, and then Indiana again (Porter County, 2010, misdemeanor battery, a 5-year-old he'd been tutoring). And Cook County, 2015, a 9-year-old Wilmette boy he tutored: he pleaded guilty in 2017, to what prosecutors describe as misdemeanor battery. Southwest Regional Publishing, July 2026.

May 2019 to 2022

Arizona's public-safety director went to court to keep him from getting a fingerprint clearance card, and the filing called him a substantial risk to children. That was his second try. The first, in 2018, had been refused, and in between he'd gone to Maricopa County and turned Brett Zagorac into Brett Smith. A grand jury indicted him in 2021, forgery, fraud and perjury, and the way that ended was a 2022 guilty plea to a single forgery count and two and a half years on probation. EWTN News, January 2026.

2024 to January 2026

The Archdiocese of Chicago hired him in 2024, and its position is that he'd passed the state background and fingerprint checks before it did. Long-term substitute at St. Walter-St. Benedict in the 2024-25 year; a vendor's employee at Pope John Paul II in Brighton Park at the start of 2025-26; substitute at Queen of Martyrs in January 2026. The superintendent's January 25 letter said he had been in at least four schools and that one south-suburban family had gone to police over tutoring in their home. Beverly Review, January 27, 2026.

December 7, 2025 to January 30, 2026

Prosecutors say he met an Orland Park 9-year-old for 13 or 14 tutoring sessions, booked through Nextdoor under another name, before the boy's mother went to police on January 7. Orland Park police arrested him January 29 on aggravated criminal sexual abuse, a Class 1 felony. Evergreen Park police, called to Queen of Martyrs on January 21, charged him with misdemeanor battery on January 30. Held, on Judge William Fahey's order. Patch, January 30, 2026.

January 28, 2026

The civil suit. A Queen of Martyrs family, parents of a second grader, filed it in the Circuit Court of Cook County, and their complaint alleges that Smith groomed and inappropriately touched the boy between January 12 and 15, and that church officials knew his history and never told parents. The defendants are Smith, the Archdiocese, the Catholic Bishop of Chicago, the parish priest and the school's former principal. Sun-Times, February 5, 2026.

March 6, 2026

Arraignment, on two counts, aggravated sexual abuse of a minor and wire fraud. Not guilty, he said. The judge kept him in jail. ABC7 Chicago.

June 15, 2026

Word from the Archdiocese that Queen of Martyrs is done, no reopening for 2026-27. Enrollment tells part of it, 325 in 2016 down to 178, maybe 140 next year. The superintendent's letter said the rest: events earlier in the year 'shook the trust of some families.' Sun-Times, June 2026.

July 16, 2026

The plea, taken by Judge Steven Rosenblum in the Circuit Court of Cook County: guilty to aggravated battery of a child. Two years' probation and registration as a violent offender against youth. Dropped in exchange, the aggravated criminal sexual abuse count and the wire fraud count. Judge Rosenblum said part of his reason for accepting it was that the 9-year-old wouldn't have to testify. Southwest Regional Publishing, July 29, 2026.

We checked this on September 11, 2026, and the newest thing in it is from July 16, 2026. When something new gets filed or decided, it goes in here within 72 hours, with the link.

Who answers for what Brett Smith did

Not him, in any way that counts. Two years' probation, a registry, no assets anyone has found. The claim that matters is the one an Evergreen Park family has already filed, and it isn't really about him. It names the Archdiocese of Chicago, the body that put him in front of children at three of its schools, and the people who ran the school he was in. Negligent hiring is the theory. What that means, without the jargon: if you hand a stranger a classroom, you owe the kids in it a real look at who he is, and this school had twenty years of newspaper stories under two names to look at, plus a 2017 guilty plea in the same county, plus an Arizona court file that says in so many words why he changed his name. Parents at Queen of Martyrs found it with a search engine.

The Archdiocese says he passed the state fingerprint check and that no name he used is on any sex-offender registry. The Illinois State Police say they ran his prints for the Archdiocese in 2024 and sent back what the law allows, the same day. What was in that return, and what anyone did with it, is what a lawsuit is for. The Archdiocese has not admitted anything in the case that's pending.

One more thing, for tutoring families. The Archdiocese's schools are one door. A child he reached through a Nextdoor ad and a fake name has a different set of questions, and some of them may still lead back to the people who let him call himself a teacher. So ask. The form is for that.

Your deadline: the Illinois statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse

No deadline, not in Illinois, not for 2024, 2025 or 2026. A parent can bring the claim for a child now, or the child can bring it as an adult, and nothing runs out while you think. That's because Illinois took its statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse off the books on January 1, 2014, and never put it back.

Almost certainly the same answer for the older Illinois cases too, Naperville or Downers Grove in 2005, Evanston in 2010, Wilmette in 2014. When the deadline came off, claims that were still alive stayed alive, and Illinois draws that line at a 1983 birth year; every child in those cases was born long after it. That's the birth-year question on the quiz. Indiana is a different statute and a different answer, and we won't guess at it here. A lawyer will.

So the honest version is: no clock for the Chicago-area cases (the section is 735 ILCS 5/13-202.2, if you'd like to check us), very likely none for the older Illinois ones, and Indiana is a conversation. Free, and yours to have or not.

Your situation still qualifies even if

It wasn't Smith. Another sub, a coach, an aide at one of these schools. The claim is against the institution either way.
Your child was at a fourth Archdiocese school the letter counted but nobody has named. Tell us which one.
The Evergreen Park battery charge is still just a charge, or you never heard how it ended. A civil case doesn't wait on it.
You signed a tutoring agreement, or paid through an app, or never had anything in writing at all.
The school is closed now. Queen of Martyrs shut in June 2026; the Archdiocese that ran it did not.
You are asking for a niece, a grandson, a kid you babysat. Reach out anyway.

Where he was

January 2026, Queen of Martyrs Catholic School at 10233 S. Central Park Ave. in Evergreen Park, closed since June 2026, the parish now called St. Gianna · St. Walter-St. Benedict School, Morgan Park and Blue Island, long-term substitute in 2024-25 · Pope John Paul II School, Brighton Park, through a staffing vendor at the start of 2025-26 · a fourth Archdiocese school the superintendent's letter counted but did not name · private tutoring in south-suburban homes, Orland Park among them, advertised on Nextdoor as BJ, BJ Smith, BJ Wilhelm or BJ S. McAuliffe · earlier, as Brett Zagorac: Naperville, Hinsdale and Schaumburg district substitute work (2005), tutoring in Evanston (2010) and Wilmette (2014), and Peifer Elementary in Schererville and Edison Elementary in Hammond, Indiana (2002 to 2005). If it was somewhere else, tell us anyway.

Questions people are asking

Who is Brett Smith?

He's 43, from Tinley Park, born Brett Zagorac. He became Smith in Arizona in 2019, and he did it after Arizona had refused to let him near children. Then Illinois again, where the Archdiocese of Chicago took him on as a substitute in 2024. He worked at St. Walter-St. Benedict, Pope John Paul II and Queen of Martyrs, and tutored on the side as BJ Wilhelm and other names. Queen of Martyrs parents figured out who he was in January 2026, and he was fired within days.

Was Brett Smith convicted?

Yes, and it's worth being exact. The plea came July 16, 2026, in the Circuit Court of Cook County, and it was to aggravated battery of a child, the child being a 9-year-old he'd tutored in Orland Park. Two years' probation, and he must register as a violent offender against youth. What went away with the plea: the aggravated criminal sexual abuse count and the wire fraud count. So he was charged with a sex offense in this case and not convicted of one, and we'd rather you hear that from us than be surprised by it later. Before all this, as Zagorac, there were misdemeanor battery convictions in Indiana, in DuPage County and in Cook County, the first of them in 2003.

What did the Archdiocese of Chicago know about Brett Smith?

It says it didn't, and that he passed the Illinois State Police fingerprint check in 2024. A lawsuit filed January 28, 2026 by a Queen of Martyrs family alleges the opposite: that church officials knew and didn't tell parents. Nothing has been decided. Twenty years of news coverage existed under both his names, and parents found it themselves.

Can I sue the Archdiocese of Chicago over Brett Smith?

One family already has, in Cook County, naming the Archdiocese, the Catholic Bishop of Chicago, the parish priest and the school's former principal along with Smith. Whether your situation supports a claim is a lawyer's call, not ours. You pay nothing for the call, and no one files a thing until you say to.

Statute of limitations in Illinois for child sexual abuse: is there one?

Not anymore. It came off on January 1, 2014 (735 ILCS 5/13-202.2), and in the twelve years since, nobody has put it back. The one exception is older claims that had already expired before then, and that's the whole reason the birth-year question is on the quiz. For anyone Smith reached in 2024 or later there is no clock. Indiana is its own law and needs its own look.

How much does a sexual abuse lawyer cost?

Nothing, here. Every case is on contingency. The lawyer is paid only out of what is recovered, and if nothing is recovered you owe nothing. Not for the call, not for the review, not for the case.

Who sees your form

Kerim Eravci · Survivor Advocate · Not a lawyer

I was a victim, and I waited. Not because I didn't know what happened to me (I knew every day), but because I'd decided it was over, mine to carry, nobody's business. When I finally went looking for a lawyer, the answer came back in two words I'd never thought about: statute of limitations. My time had run out while I was busy getting through it.

What that has cost me since is a long story, and I'll tell you the whole thing in private, if you want it. The short version is the reason my name is on this page: I'm here to help people do what I wish I'd done, which is find out where you stand while the door's still open.

I'm not a lawyer. I read what you send, I call you once, on your terms, and nothing gets filed unless you say so. Ask sooner than I did.

Kerim Eravci is not an attorney. He's a survivor.

What happens next. Three steps, nothing more until you say so.

You answer 6 questions. Nothing is filed. Nothing starts.
A survivor calls you, once. Not a robot, not a call center. Someone who has been where you are.
You decide. You find out your options. If you want to stop there, you stop there.

How this works

ME2 Survivors Alliance protects the heart. Licensed Illinois attorneys do the legal work. We are not lawyers and we don't pretend to be.

You never pay a dollar

Every case is on contingency. There is no charge for the call, the review, or the case. The firm is paid only out of a recovery, and if there is no recovery you owe nothing.