Sheriff

EXETER, Mo. -- A former basketball and baseball coach and physical education teacher faces charges of statutory rape in Barry County.  Scott White, 41, was arrested this week on four counts of statutory rape involving a child under age 14. In a school of about 350 kids, White taught P.E. to them all, kindergarten through 12th grade.  He also coached basketball and baseball.  "We put out a newsletter when we found the prosecutor had issued...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Court documents reveal names of two people considered suspects in the deaths of a couple from rural Greene County last year. U.S. Marshals arrested Tony and Windy Friend on Wednesday at the home where they lived at 3155 W. Brower St., lot #10, in Springfield. Both Tony Friend, 44, and Windy Friend, 31, were charged in Greene County associate circuit court with possessing methamphetamine.  Tony Friend was also charged in U.S. District Court with being a felon in possession of a weapon.  He is previously convicted for unlawful use of a weapon and domestic assault.

HOUSTON, Mo. -- The Texas County prosecuting attorney charged a man from Winona for the murders of two men whose bodies were found near their burned home on Wednesday night.  Jonathan Foster, 24, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action, and two counts of shooting a firearm from a vehicle. The victims were James Winton, 37, and a 42-year-old man identified by the Houston Herald as Doug Dearman, whose name was not released on Friday because his relatives were not yet notified.   Their bodies were found outside a home that burned on Curran Road near the community of Clear Springs, a rural area between Houston and Mountain View.  Firefighters got a call about a fire at the home about 9:15 p.m. Wednesday.  Firefighters found the body of the 42-year-old man "a short distance from the house across a barbed wire fence," according to a news release from the Texas County Sheriff's Department.   Winton's body was found a short time later just outside the home.

LAMPE, Mo.-- The two teen-aged boys accused of murdering a couple in Lampe had escaped from the Lives Under Construction boys ranch before. The last time was last week when Paul and Margaret Brooks were killed in their lake home. Stone County Sheriff Doug Radar tells us that his department has only been tracking run-aways from the ranch since he took office, which was at the beginning of the year.  Radar says the pair was reported to have run-away one other time in recent weeks.

AVA, Mo. -- A man from Ava is accused of holding a teenager against her will and sexually assaulting her.  Jacob James, 31, was charged on Friday with forcible rape, forcible sodomy, armed criminal action, first-degree domestic assault, felonious restraint, and tampering with a victim in a felony prosecution. Douglas County Sheriff Chris Degase says James was arrested early Friday after an investigation that lasted nearly a week.  He said nearly every deputy in his department worked on the case.

EVERTON, Ark.-- The mayor of the small northwest Arkansas town of Everton is in critical condition in Springfield, after a citizen of his town allegedly shot him Wednesday evening. 35 year old Justin Bates was charged Thursday afternoon with attempted capital murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm.  He was just released on parole from prison last September, after being convicted of second degree murder in the death of a man in 2000.  Now, no one can understand why he shot mayor Bill Gerdes.

The Arkansas State Police are looking into what caused a Baxter County Sheriff's deputy to crash his car. The sheriff says Cpl. Eddie Elliot was responding to an accident, when his patrol car ran off the road and hit two parked vehicles.  No one was hurt

Breaking news this morning near Oak Grove in Carroll County, Arkansas. The sheriff's department is investigating the deaths of two people.... a man and a woman. Detectives discovered the bodies late last night in the 9-hundred block of county road 433 in Oak Grove. No word yet on how the victims died or their identities.

MARSHFIELD, Mo .-- The Webster County Sheriff's Department has a new website where residents can find the latest information regarding the operations of the department as well as locate area sex offenders. The new website will serve as an information resource for the public and assist with community policing efforts. The Website provides updated information on all aspects of the department. Sheriff Roy Cole says one of the main goals of the new website is to provide information to the public about sex offenders living in the county.