NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) -- A former Lancaster and Northumberland County deputy is facing multiple sex offense charges in Northumberland, according to court records. Johnny Smithart is facing three counts of rape, one count of object sexual penetration, one count of forcible sodomy and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to court records. Court records show Smithart was indicted on Wednesday, Feb. 4, and that his status hearing will be on Tuesday, March 24. According to Sheriff Johnny Beauchamp with the Northumberland Sheriff's Office, Smithart resigned in September 2012, and "We haven't employed him since," he said. 8News also reached out to the Lancaster Sheriff's Office. Sheriff Patrick McCranie told 8News that Smithart was placed on administrative leave in October 2022 and separated from their agency in January 2023. However, he declined to comment further since he "[does] not want [to] affect the investigation due to [his] comments." Beauchamp told 8News that they were aware of the charges when Virginia State Police (VSP) began their investigation in late 2025. However, a VSP spokesperson could not share any details regarding the investigation, as it remains open and ongoing. Smithart is yet another Lancaster deputy to be charged with felony sex offenses within the last five years. In the summer of 2024, then 29-year-old Motley Allen Haynie, a former Lancaster Sheriff’s deputy, was charged with soliciting sex from a minor. Hanover Sheriff’s deputies arrested him in Richmond in July 2025 for alleged sex crimes involving a child. Edward Logan Fisher, a former Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office patrol sergeant, was also convicted of a sex crime in October 2025. ...read more read less