Inmate

MOUNT VERNON, Mo. -- The Lawrence County Sheriff's Department is investigating the death of an inmate at its jail. It happened Friday afternoon when a jailer found an inmate not breathing.  Medical personnel were called to the scene but couldn't revive the inmate. The inmate's name had not been released, as of Saturday, because the sheriff was unable to reach family.

Springdale police are investigating the death of an inmate in the city's jail. Officers say Steven Herbert was being held in the detox unit Friday morning and asked to use the restroom. Police found the 40-year old in the bathroom, unconscious and unresponsive; he was pronounced dead at the hospital. Investigators have sent blood samples to the state crime lab for a toxicology analysis.

DIXON, Mo. --The Pulaski County Sheriff's Department is on the lookout for an inmate who escaped from the county jail in Dixon early Monday morning. Sheriff J.B. King says two men were able to break out as a third man distracted an on-duty dispatcher.  Shortly after the jail break, the two escaped inmates broke into a home on Burlington Road near Crocker and robbed the family. Shortly after the robbery, one of the suspects was found in a nearby abandoned house. At this time the remaining inmate, Brandon Kelley Monell, age 23, who is from the Crocker area is still at large.  Monell was being held on a charge of statutory rape.

MOUNT VERNON, Mo. -- The Lawrence County Sheriff's Department on Sunday released more information about an inmate found dead Saturday inside its jail. The department says Thomas Plopper, 41, was found unresponsive in his cell by a jailer who was escorting another inmate into custody.  Medical personnel couldn't revive Plopper.  At this time, it appears Plopper died of an apparent suicide, however, an investigation is ongoing.  An official cause of death has not been released.

HOWELL COUNTY -- The Howell County Sheriff's Department is on the lookout for an escaped jail trustee. Lloyd Miller, 33, left the jail in West Plains on Wednesday.  He was behind bars on numerous burglary charges. Miller is likely headed toward Springfield or east to his hometown of Alton. If you see him or know of his whereabouts, call your local police station immediately.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - David M. Ketchmark, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that an inmate of the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Mo., has been indicted by a federal grand jury for murdering an inmate at the facility and attempting to murder another inmate. Ulysses Jones, Jr., 56, who is serving a life sentence for murder, was charged in a three-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Springfield on Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2012.

EMINENCE, Mo. -- A manhunt is underway for an inmate who walked away from the Shannon County Jail.  John Bressler, 31, was last seen on Tuesday afternoon.  Shannon County officials say he is not considered to be dangerous. Bressler was in jail on a city ordinance charge of stealing.  After returning from court, he walked away about 2:10.  The sheriff says he was not armed when he left the jail and "was in no way aggressive toward the staff or the other inmates" while he was in custody.

TUSCUMBIA, Mo. -- The Missouri State Highway Patrol is investigating the hanging death of an inmate at the Miller County jail.  A jailer found James Jensen, 22, from Eldon in his cell on Monday.  An ambulance took him to a hospital in Columbia but doctors couldn't save him. The Boone County medical examiner determined the cause of death to be asphyxiation. Jensen was in jail since early January after being accused of violating his probation for convictions last year of burglary and stealing a motor vehicle.  He had applied for a public defender and had a hearing scheduled for Feb. 6.

Mountain Home, AR - A former Baxter County Jail inmate was arrested on additional charges after jailers found contraband concealed in her jail uniform after she was released from custody on May 19 th .    BETHANY NICOLE WILLIAMS , 24 years old of Flippin, called the Detention Center several hours after being released saying she had left a small container in her jail uniform when she was booked out and wanted to retrieve it. ...

FORSYTH, Mo. - Two Taney County jailers are facing their own jail time for allegedly sleeping with inmates. Online court records show Chadwick Brewer and Corey Ridings face charges for having sex with a female inmate. Ridings has been charged with four counts and Brewer has been charged with one count. Both men have posted bond. They'll appear in court next month.

Yelp may be a website for people to review restaurants and other companies providing goods and services, but a certain group of people is using the site for another purpose. There are those who review churches, others review parks and still others let the public know their opinions about public restrooms -- but how about prison inmates reviewing the institution in which they were incarcerated? One woman writes about Riker's Island in New York : "I had a terrific getaway on this luxurious island retreat.

MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark. -- A jailer was hurt after an inmate bit him during a struggle at the Baxter County Jail. Sheriff John Montgomery said the assault was Tuesday.  Bradley Edmonston, serving time for a variety of charges, became upset when jail staff searched his cell.  Edmonston caused a disturbance and jailers called him back inside from the recreation yard to lock down, and a struggle ensued. Montgomery said Edmonston bit jailer Jamie Binnion on the arm as he struggled with Binnion and two other members of the jail staff.  Staff eventually brought Edmonston under control by using pepper spray.

MOUNTAIN HOME, Ar. -- A Baxter County Jail Inmate has been charged with a felony crime after biting a Jailer on the arm Tuesday afternoon during a scuffle.  Inmate Bradley Travis Edmonston was outside in the recreation yard.  He became upset when Jailers began conducting a search of his housing cell and began to cause a disturbance. Jailers responded to the recreation yard and ordered Edmonston to come back inside to lock down.  He refused to comply.  Three Jailers eventually took hold of Edmonston to escort him back inside.  A struggle ensued at this time, and Edmonston bit Jailer Jamie Binnion on his left forearm causing injury to him.  Jailers then used pepper spray to subdue the inmate.

FORSYTH, Mo. -- A convicted bank robber is charged with killing a woman from Hollister 10 years ago.  The Taney County prosecuting attorney charged Phillip Dodd, 40, with first-degree murder on Thursday.  Dodd is charged with killing Becky Sutton on March 21, 2003.  Sutton, 19, disappeared from her home in Hollister, leaving behind her 2-year-old son, Cole.  It was the son who alerted a neighbor that his mother was gone when he was found wandering around the courtyard in their apartment complex.  The neighbor then called Sutton's mother, who alerted the Hollister Police Department.

TUSCUMBIA, Mo. -- The Missouri State Highway Patrol is investigating the hanging death of an inmate at the Miller County jail.  A jailer found James Jensen, 22, from Eldon in his cell on Monday.  An ambulance took him to a hospital in Columbia but doctors couldn't save him. The Boone County medical examiner determined the cause of death to be asphyxiation. Jensen was in jail since early January after being accused of violating his probation for convictions last year of burglary and stealing a motor vehicle.  He had applied for a public defender and had a hearing scheduled for Feb. 6.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Nearly 11 months after a high-speed crash killed two people, a man from Springfield is charged for their deaths.  Greene County prosecutors charged Sean Masten, 24, on Wednesday with two counts of first-degree involuntary manslaughter.  Investigators believe Masten was high on methamphetamine at the time. The crash was on Sunday morning, Feb. 19, 2012, at the intersection of West Elm Street at South Scenic Avenue.  Kathy Newman, 60, died at the scene after a pickup sped through a stop sign and hit her SUV in the driver's door.  Joshua Sportsman, 24, was thrown from the truck and died at the scene.  Police at the scene couldn't tell if Sportsman was the driver.  A witness to the crash told police that a heavyset man got out of the driver's side of the pickup, walked around, and left the scene in another pickup.  Police later arrested Masten after he went to a hospital to get treated for injuries, including a broken arm. Masten told police at first that he was injured in a motorcycle wreck on his property near Fair Grove.  An investigator says in the probable cause statement that Masten later admitted he was involved in the crash on Elm at Scenic but said Sportsman was driving.  Until now, police never said publicly that they'd concluded that Masten was the driver.  It took 11 months to charge Masten because it took a crime lab this long to analyze Masten's blood to determine that he was under the influence of meth.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the appeal of an Oklahoma death row inmate who killed three people during a crime spree 13 years ago.  The Oklahoma Attorney General's Office says the nation's highest court rejected the appeal of Steven Thacker on Monday. Thacker pleaded guilty in Oklahoma to first-degree murder, kidnapping and first-degree rape for the stabbing death of Laci Hill, 25, of Bixby, Okla., in December 1999.  Thacker received the death penalty after a sentencing hearing before a judge.  He waived his right to a jury trial and then pleaded guilty.

EMINENCE, Mo. -- A manhunt is underway for an inmate who walked away from the Shannon County Jail.  John Bressler, 31, was last seen on Tuesday afternoon.  Shannon County officials say he is not considered to be dangerous. Bressler was in jail on a city ordinance charge of stealing.  After returning from court, he walked away about 2:10.  The sheriff says he was not armed when he left the jail and "was in no way aggressive toward the staff or the other inmates" while he was in custody.