Law Enforcement Officers

CROCKER, Mo. -- A man from Crocker is charged with three counts of child molestation.  Law enforcement officers arrested Clinton Weyand, 63, and at his home on Tuesday night. The Pulaski County sheriff says detectives investigated a report of child abuse in July.  The evidence led them to Weyand, who is a registered sex offender.  He was in the Pulaski County jail on Wednesday in lieu of a $100,000 bond.

VIENNA, Mo. -- A man from Dixon was charged with trespassing, resisting arrest and assaulting law enforcement officers on Monday.  Maries County Sheriff Chris Heitman said deputies responded to a panic alarm in the prosecutor's office after William Ratliff was being disorderly.  Heitman said Ratliff assaulted him and Major David Hutchison.  Heitman said deputies used an electronic stun gun and pepper spray to subdue Ratliff.  Heitman said no one was hurt.  

REEDS SPRING, Mo. -- A man from Reeds Spring is jailed after law enforcement officers say he tried to set his wife on fire.  They say Dwayne James, 41, was upset about his wife's drug use. The probable cause statement used as the basis of the charge says James sprayed his wife with WD-40 before pulling out a lighter. James is charged with domestic assault.  If convicted, he could face a 15-year prison sentence.

WAYNESVILLE, Mo. - A 20-year-old man put up a fight on Friday morning when a team of four law enforcement officers went to his home near Dixon to arrest him.  Pulaski County Sheriff J.B. King says officers had to use an electric stun gun on Devon Cardin, who appeared to be high on a mind-altering drug such as bath salts. The officers went to Cardin's home at 17430 Cliff Road about 7:30 a.m. Friday because he had a warrant for failure to appear in court on a charge of receiving stolen property.  This was the second time officers tried to arrest him; the first time, he fled into the woods behind his home.  The team included two sheriff's deputies and two state troopers.  King says the fight with Cardin caused a minor wound on the arm of one trooper.

MARSHFIELD, Mo. -- Three people are in jail after leading law enforcement officers on a chase early Sunday morning.  The Highway Patrol says the chase started in Webster County and went through Christian County on Missouri 14 to U.S. 65. Officers laid a pair of spike strips across the road, which shredded the left rear tire of the fleeing vehicle as the driver was headed north.  The chase ended north of Evans Road when the car ran off the highway....

WHEATON, Mo. -- Law Enforcement Officers in Barry County say a missing 12-year-old girl has turned back at home, safe. The girl was reported missing from her home in Wheaton, Mo around 8:53 pm Thursday night.  Sheriff Mick Epperly with the Barry County Sheriff's Office stated that officers had been out all night searching for the missing girl and are still searching at this time. Just before 6 pm Friday, she showed back up at home and was fine.  

ROLLA, Mo. -- State troopers arrested a man who is believed to be the one who entered Fort Leonard Wood with an assault rifle, fled to Rolla at speeds in excess of 120 miles per hour in a stolen car while shooting at pursuing officers, crashed the car into another car near Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, walked through a university campus building with the rifle, and then broke into a home and stole a car from the person living...

BUFFALO, Mo. -- A suspect for the death of a teenager from rural Greene County was arrested on Monday night after fleeing from law enforcement officers.  Anthony Balbirnie, 47, could be charged for the murder of Khighla Parks, 15. On Monday evening, Khighla's grandparents, Bonnie and Mike Adams, heard the news. "It's a relief. We been waiting for this day and hoping it would come about," said Mike Adams. Balbirnie was arrested after a lengthy car chase that ended just outside Buffalo a few minutes before 6 p.m.  According to online public records, Balbirnie has a lengthy criminal history, including possession of drugs, assault, unlawful use of weapon, and resisting arrest.  Those documents indicate he was sentenced to jail or prison numerous times, including a 12-year sentence in 2010.  In September 2011, Balbirnie was the subject of a bulletin from Crime Stoppers of Greater Springfield because he failed to show up in court for scheduled hearings.   In his mug shot distributed a year ago, Balbirnie was not bald.

HARTVILLE, Mo. -- The Wright County prosecuting attorney charged Terry Joe Volner on Thursday for the murder of Dusty Guenther, 4, on Tuesday night.  The 22-year-old man was treated at a hospital in Springfield after the boy's body was found on Wednesday morning in an ice-covered lagoon next to the home of the boy's family in northern Wright County.  A probable cause statement used as the basis of the charges says Volner called his mother, Tina...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Law enforcement officers chased a man wanted on a burglary charge around the north side of the city on Tuesday afternoon.  When the chase ended, they had to use an electric stun gun to subdue him. The chase started about 1 p.m. north of the city near Highway H (Glenstone Avenue) at Highway AA.  Greene County sheriff's deputies followed him after realizing the driver was wanted on warrants for the burglary charge and failing to appear in court.  The man made it to North Grant Avenue and headed south past Hillcrest High School at speeds near 100 mph.  Springfield police joined the chase, which zig-zagged down a number of streets on the north side of the city at speeds of 50 to 80 mph.  From Grant, the wanted man went east on Division Street, swerved around a spike strip at the corner of Division at Boonville Avenue, went north on Boonville to Commercial Street, then east on Commercial, south on Glenstone, east on Division Street and south on Oak Grove Avenue.

MARSHALL, Ark. -- A woman who lives near Harriet is in jail after being a raid on her property that found 41 gallons of moonshine.   Shortly before the raid, the Searcy County sheriff says, Edwina Pipkins sold two gallons of the homemade liquor to undercover officers for $60 per gallon. Searcy County is officially a dry county, meaning retail sales of liquor and beer is prohibited. Sheriff Kenney Cassell says his department received information on Monday that Pipkins had “numerous gallons of untaxed spirituous, vinous, or malt liquors” at her home on Arkansas 14 east of Harriet.  On Wednesday afternoon, undercover officers went to her home and bought moonshine, which was in a shop next to her home.  She sold it to the officers in one-gallon glass bottles, which she put in brown paper sacks.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A man from Protem pleaded guilty in federal court on Wednesday for robbing First Home Savings Bank in Forsyth this summer. Trent Singleton, 43, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge James England to the charge contained in an indictment on Aug. 28.  Singleton admitted he stole $19,216. Singleton entered First Home Savings Bank, 20377 U.S. Highway 160, Forsyth, at about 12:45 p.m. Monday, July 30.  He placed a green cloth bag on the counter and demanded the teller put money in the bag.  The tellers were intimidated by his demand and immediately complied.  After receiving the money, Singleton left the bank.

MANSFIELD, Mo. - A man is in custody for a homicide at a home.  Law enforcement officers found the body of Jill Adamson, 33, in her home on Tuesday morning.  After waiting to get a search warrant, investigators went into the home in the afternoon.  The Missouri State Highway Patrol is helping Mansfield police and Wright County sheriff's deputies with the investigation. Mansfield officers got a 9-1-1 call about a fight at the home in the morning.  When they went there, no one was home but they found signs that someone was hurt.

RED BANK, Mo. -- Law enforcement officers are investigating a fatal shooting by a law enforcement officer in a remote area of western Douglas County on Thursday morning.  The Missouri Highway Patrol sasy David Leroy Phillips, 41, of Hillsdale, Illinois was shot by an officer with the Douglas County Sheriff's Department.  A Missouri State Highway Patrol spokesman say the shooting was about 10 a.m. After the shooting, a woman ran into the woods. ...

OZARK, Mo. -- Law enforcement officers shot a mentally disturbed man in an arm on Monday afternoon just outside southern Ozark.  The man had a small-caliber pistol and had fled into the woods when Christian County sheriff's deputies approached a home where he was. Sheriff Joey Kyle said his deputies went to the home on 20th Street near Rockhill Road during the noon hour.  A relative of the man had called his department and said the man was threatening...

GREENFIELD, Mo. - A Dade County jail escapee eluded law enforcement officers again after he was cornered in a home in Greenfield. The sheriff says his department was tipped off that William Smith was holed up in a mobile home near Greenfield.  The mobile home turned out to be a methamphetamine lab.  When officers arrived, Smith crashed through a window and ran away into the woods.  Investigators believe Smith was cut by broken glass. Nancy Eagan, Dustin Davison, and Randy Hummel all face numerous drug charges, including harboring a fugitive.  Davison is Smith's brother.  Smith escaped from the jail on Monday morning.

Saint Charles County, MO (KSDK) - The search for suspected gunman Richard Heeter in St. Charles County has ended with authorities shooting and killing him, according to St. Charles County Sheriff Thomas Neer. The search for Heeter began after two county deputies were shot early Wednesday. Investigators say the wanted person was hiding and when law enforcement officers closed in, the suspect lunged at officers with a knife, stabbing aSt. LouisCounty officer in the shoulder. Other officers opened fire on the man and fatally shot Heeter, Sheriff Neer said.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Law enforcement officers still were looking for William Smith of Ash Grove on Monday evening.  The 22-year-old man is charged for a hit-and-run crash last Saturday that critically injured another man in Springfield.  Smith's grandmother, Linda Eagleburger, says he plans to surrender to officers on Tuesday morning after he obtains a bail bond agent. The series of events started at Smith's home in Ash Grove.  Court documents say William Smith and his wife, Cheyenne, got into an argument and Cheyenne called police for help on Saturday.  An Ash Grove officer arrived and briefly detained William Smith, and Cheyenne left with her mother, who drove from Springfield to pick up her and the couple's son. "There was nothing we could have done differently here other than what we did," said Ash Grove Police Chief Russ Essary.  Essary says his officer checked out the situation and felt he had no need and no grounds to detain Smith longer than he did. "You'll know who the aggressor is if there's a physical fight and if there has been some physical actions taken.  Then the person who has been the primary aggressor usually will go to jail.  But, in this case right here, that was not the case.  It was strictly a verbal argument.  We had a witness who corroborated with that and said it was only a verbal argument back and forth," the chief said.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri State Highway Patrol will participate in Operation Dry Water, a national campaign in which law enforcement officers across the country specially enforce laws against boating under the influence of alcohol or drugs.  Troopers will focus their efforts over the weekend of June 22-24 to try to arrest intoxicated operators.  It's against the law in Missouri for a pilot to have a blood alcohol content of .08 percent or more. A vessel operator with a blood alcohol concentration above the legal limit runs a significantly increased risk of being involved in a boating crash.

WAYNESVILLE, Mo. - A 20-year-old man put up a fight on Friday morning when a team of four law enforcement officers went to his home near Dixon to arrest him.  Pulaski County Sheriff J.B. King says officers had to use an electric stun gun on Devon Cardin, who appeared to be high on a mind-altering drug such as bath salts. The officers went to Cardin's home at 17430 Cliff Road about 7:30 a.m. Friday because he had a warrant for failure to appear in court on a charge of receiving stolen property.  This was the second time officers tried to arrest him; the first time, he fled into the woods behind his home.  The team included two sheriff's deputies and two state troopers.  King says the fight with Cardin caused a minor wound on the arm of one trooper.