Nearly a year before a Bristol Township exterminator allegedly murdered a Philadelphia doctor, he was cited for exposing himself during a road rage incident in Bensalem, according to court records.
Pennsylvania State Police issued Jason T. Smith a summary citation March 16 charging him with disorderly conduct/obscene language or gesture during an incident on southbound I-95. Court records show Smith pleaded guilty a month later.
Court records show that Smith, 36, of Crescent Lane, “did with the intent to cause public inconvenience” make an obscene gesture by “exposing himself during a road rage incident” on the highway about 1 p.m.
Police records show the victim’s name was withheld, and information about the circumstances surrounding the “road rage” incident was not included.
Police said Smith admitted his involvement when state police interviewed him March 29, according to the incident report filed with the court. He paid nearly $300 in fines and court costs.
The non-traffic citation and a 2004 drunken driving conviction are the only two charges Smith has faced in Pennsylvania, according to online court records.
But Philadelphia police are looking closer into whether Smith is connected with any unsolved crimes in the city. A law enforcement source believes the city’s sex crimes unit and Northeast detectives are involved in that, but the newspaper was unsuccessful in reaching the units Monday.
Philadelphia police said the self-employed exterminator allegedly strangled and then set fire to Melissa Ketunuti, 35, a pediatrician at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, after the two argued over an extermination job at her Naudain Street home Jan. 21.
Smith was hired as a subcontractor for a rodent problem at the home. The appointment was the first time Smith and Ketunuti met, police said.
Smith was charged Thursday with murder, arson, abuse of a corpse and risking a catastrophe.
Police have refused to release specifics about the argument between Smith and the doctor. They did say no evidence points to a sexual assault.
Authorities said they have an abundant amount of evidence connecting Smith to the murder, including video surveillance from nearby businesses of him entering and exiting Ketunuti’s row home and his silver truck circling the block.
Smith arrived at the home shortly after Ketunuti returned from running errands, police said. The surveillance video shows him leaving the home about 90 minutes later, Wilkins said. Ketunuti’s dog walker found her body shortly after Smith left the home, police said.
Smith allegedly struck the doctor, got on top of her, strangled her with rope he found in the house and then tied her up. In an attempt to destroy the evidence, Smith set her body on fire after she was dead, police said.
Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@phillyBurbs.com; Twitter: @jociavaglia
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