Local News – Tuesday, July 30th, 2019

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt announced that former City Clerk for Winona, Terri Denton, has been sentenced following a June 4th guilty plea to one count of the class C felony of Receiving Stolen Property in the Circuit Court of Shannon County. At sentencing, Shannon County Associate Circuit Judge Sandra West sentenced Denton to seven years in the Missouri Department of Corrections and placed Denton on 5 years supervised probation. She was also ordered to serve thirty days shock incarceration immediately in the Shannon County Jail. Denton will also have to complete one hundred hours of community service and pay $4,000 in restitution, with interest. Finally, Denton was ordered to write a letter of apology to the City of Winona for her theft. Denton was employed as City Clerk between 2015 and 2017. Following a complaint by the Chief of Police, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the State Auditor’s Office investigated the alleged mismanagement of funds by Denton. Auditors discovered that several thousands of dollars in cash had not been deposited while Denton was employed as City Clerk. The investigators with the Missouri Highway Patrol interviewed Denton, who admitted to the theft of “somewhere between $2,000 and $4,000” in cash that had accumulated in the city vault. Denton admitted that the cash was used to pay personal expenses. The Missouri State Highway Patrol, the State Auditor’s Office, and Missouri Attorney General Investigator David Southard investigated this case. Assistant Attorney General Tony Brown prosecuted the case.

The Dent County Commissioners met Monday morning for their regular meeting. Sheriff Bob Wells was in and said the TV show ‘Unsolved Mysteries” will be in Salem on August 12th about the disappearance of Lena Chapin in 2006. They would like to use the upstairs council boardroom for interviews and possibly the courtroom. Wells wasn’t sure if the commission needed to approve this request or if he just needed to get in touch with the extension to make sure the room was available. The commissioners said to talk with the extension and see if anyone was using the room but they had no problem with the request. They did thank Wells for the heads up about them being in town. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Dennis Purcell said that with the rains Monday, service work was going to be done on the brush cutting tractor #8, replacing a flat tire on truck #121 and correcting a windshield problem on truck #125. He said a man would be stockpiling chips at the shed for the upcoming chip and seal project and workers would be responding to any calls for downed limbs or trees as well as culverts backing up. District 2 Commissioner Gary Larson stated brush was being cut on Dent County Road 2070 and a washout on county road 2270 was going to be repaired. Larson also reported a man would be hauling in brown rock to the shed, two men would be servicing truck #75 and another worker would be going to Springfield to get oil for chip and seal repair. Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles was in Cape Girardeau last Wednesday through Friday for the CCAM meeting to discuss and schedule the 2020 commissioner training. He also said they discussed legislative priorities of which one was getting the counties reimbursed for housing state prisoners. Skiles believed Dent County was owed more then $200,000. Skiles went on to report there was a discussion on the notice to counties about another increase in the full time prosecutor’s salary. There was also a lengthy discussion on the ban of hunting feral hogs on forest service. He said the Missouri Department of Conservation and National Forest Service representatives were in attendance at the meeting and the commissioners concern was that if they want to ban hunting, Representative Jason Smith, Senator Hawley and Roy Blunt along with the National Forest and Conservation Departments will have to figure out a way tohave the manpower available to protect private landowners property when the feral hogs come on those properties. The next meeting of the Dent County Commissioners will be Thursday morning at 9:00 at the courthouse and the meeting is open to the public.

Dent County Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Curley released a couple of reports from court held in Crawford County in front of Judge Kelly Parker on Tuesday, July 23rd. A bench trial was held for the charges of two counts of delivery of a controlled substance, class C felonies against Ronald Ball from Rolla. Prosecutor Andrew M. Curley presented evidence that Ronald Ball distributed heroin and methamphetamine in April of 2017. At the conclusion of the trial, Ronald Ball was found guilty of both counts by Circuit Judge Kelly Parker. His sentencing is scheduled in September. Each count carries a potential range of punishment of up to 10 years in Department of Corrections. That same day, Marvin Stephens of Poplar Bluff pled guilty to two counts of possession of child pornography, both class D felonies. The range of punishment authorized was up to seven years in prison on each count. The defendant was sentenced to 14 years in the Department of Corrections pursuant to RSMO 559.115.

An accident occurred Sunday afternoon at 3:30 in Crawford County on Cedar Hill Road about 3 miles southeast of Steelville. According to the highway patrol, a 1989 GMC 1500 Pickup, driven by 54-year old William J. Altom of Cook Station, traveled off the left side of the roadway, struck a low water crossing and came to rest. Altom suffered minor injuries and was taken to the Missouri Baptist Hospital in Sullivan. Altom was not wearing a seat restraint at the time of the accident and the GMC was removed by Miles and Sons Towing of Steelville.