Lawrence County

MT. VERNON, Mo. - UPDATE: The Lawrence County Sheriff has released more information regarding the death of an inmate. The Sheriff says the inmate apparently committed suicide. He says 41-year-old Thomas Plopper's body was found in his cell Friday night by a jailer who was putting another inmate in the cell. The sheriff says he believes Plopper killed himself, but he's awaiting an official cause of death. Plopper was being held on a felony robbery charge. PREVIOUS STORY: The Lawrence County Sheriff's Office is investigating the death of a jail inmate.

Lawrence County commissioners say they can't legislate morality, so that's why they're asking voters to renew a 10% tax they say prevents immoral businesses from moving in. The tax applies to adult cabarets: businesses where employees regularly appear in the nude. The cabaret tax passed in Lawrence County in 2008 and it appears to be working - there still are no cabarets in the county. Presiding Commissioner Sam Goodman says renewing the tax reflects more on Lawrence County's identity than its revenues.

It's never a good idea to drunk and drive but in April, the Missouri Highway Patrol is dedicating extra resources to catching drunk drivers. The commanding officer of Troop D, Springfield, says sometime during the month of April, troopers will conduct a sobriety checkpoint in Stone County and DWI saturations in Dallas, Lawrence, and Stone counties. The Patrol will also be conducting a hazardous moving violations saturation in Jasper County.   Troopers will focus their enforcement efforts primarily in high-crash areas, with an emphasis on speed, improper lane changes, following too close and impaired drivers.

Four teens are charged with cattle theft in Lawrence County thanks to tips from citizens. Prosecutors have charged 18 year old Taylor Mayes of Monett, 18 year old Marcus Nelson of Monett, 17 year old Darrion Pierce of Purdy and 17 year old Winston Wood of Cassville. The Lawrence County Sheriff says the four are connected to multiple cattle thefts and attempted thefts in Lawrence, Barry, Jasper and Newton counties.     The sheriff says some of the livestock has been recovered.

The State Fire Marshal is investigating exactly what went wrong in the aftermath of a house fire in Lawrence County, MO where fire crews failed to see a man's body. The blaze happened Thursday evening on M Highway near Halltown. The Lawrence County Sheriff tells KSPR a neighbor reported the fire and told dispatchers that a man might be inside. After extinguishing the blaze, the Sheriff says firefighters went into the home but did not see the body of 61-year-old Larry Pearman sitting in a chair in the living-room.

The Barry County sheriff is looking for vandals who stole three vehicles, set two on fire, and broke down the fence at the Roller Game Ranch.   It happened last Thursday (1-5) night. Sheriff Mick Epperly tells KSPR News the first pickup was stolen in Lawrence county and driven into Barry county.    "They ran through a bunch of farmers fences in the McDowell area", he said.  McDowell is east of Purdy, MO.   He says they dumped the first pickup and set it on fire near the lodge and stole a suburban form that property.

As Missouri teeters on the edge of the most meth busts in the nation and a record-setting year for the state law enforcement is dealing with a major setback.   Officers fighting the war on methamphetamine are being cut across Missouri.     A Missouri sheriff's group has been receiving federal money for the past eleven years.   The group is MoSmart, the Missouri Sheriff Methamphetamine Action Relief Team.   It's made up of 30 specialized positions in sheriff's departments and drug task forces dedicated solely to cracking down on meth.

  It's certainly not a statistic we want to see rise, but a meeting of the minds this month revealed that's what's happening in two Ozarks counties.   Sex crimes against children are spiking in Barry and Lawrence Counties.  In fact, it's been a record year.     The commonality was discovered at a monthly Crime Stoppers meeting.   It seems few law enforcement agencies in the two county area are immune to the trend, which is only hindered by a short-staff across the board.

A Reeds Spring man will spend 10  years behind bars for sex crimes. A judge sentenced 35-year-old Larry Joe Smith Junior on two separate charges of statutory sodomy in the first degree. Smith's victims were just 9 and 6 years old at the time of the crime. According to testimony, the victims were sexually assaulted at Smith's home in Stone county. The trial was held in Lawrence county after a change of venue was granted.

Deputies followed a driver through 2 counties in a chase that topped out at 115 miles per hour on Tuesday morning. It started in Republic, when a Greene County Deputy spotted a car that had been reported as stolen in Springfield. When the deputy tried to pull the car over, the driver sped away. Deputies followed him west into Lawrence County, to Mount Vernon. The driver turned around and headed back east. Greene County Deputies used spike strips to flatten 3 of the car's tires.