SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced in a media release Tuesday that two southern Missouri men were indicted by a federal grand jury today, in separate and unrelated cases, on charges involving the sexual exploitation of children.

USA v. Talbott

Jeremiah Shane Talbott, 37, of Oronogo, Mo., was charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Springfield, Mo.

Today’s indictment alleges that Talbott used a cell phone to attempt to induce an individual whom he believed to be less than 18 years of age to engage in illicit sexual activity between June 26 and Aug. 26, 2014.

The indictment also contains a forfeiture allegation, which would require Talbott to forfeit to the government any property used to commit the alleged offense, including his cell phone.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ami Harshad Miller. It was investigated by the Southwest Missouri Cybercrime Task Force, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the FBI.

USA v. Penn

Edward Penn, 31, of Hartville, Mo., was charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Springfield, Mo.

Today’s indictment alleges that Penn received and distributed child pornography over the Internet between Jan. 1, 2013, and Oct. 3, 2014.

The indictment also contains a forfeiture allegation, which would require Penn to forfeit to the government any property used to commit the alleged offense, including his cell phone.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Kelleher. It was investigated by the Southwest Missouri Cybercrime Task Force and Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Dickinson cautioned that the charges contained in these indictments are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

COLUMBIA (AP) – Some security personnel will be allowed to carry guns in Columbia schools if they meet certain requirements.

Superintendent Peter Stiepleman said Tuesday he wants schools security director John White and assistant security director Ken Gregory to carry guns by Jan. 15, after a procedure is prepared to react if one of them fires a gun. White and Gregory are usually the first on the scene at school incidents.

Four Columbia police officers who work in the schools already carry guns.

The policy requires the security director and assistant director to have police certification and experience. They also must take state and federal licenses and at least 24 hours of firearms training each year, as well as other training.

The Supreme Court of Missouri on Tuesday published a ruling that a co-defendant has a legal right to watch as his partner-in crime is executed.

The ruling allowed Willie Kelly Owens to watch as his co-defendant, and half-brother Leon Taylor was put to death November 19. The high court’s writ was issued a day before the lethal injection, but the ruling was not published until this week.

 

The statute governing witnesses to an execution excludes only incarcerated offenders or those younger than 21 years. The high court held that the statute contains no exception or prohibition for co-defendants but does authorize the warden to invite peace officers to watch the execution to maintain security.

According to the ruling, (available here) Taylor and Owens demonstrated they had a clear, unequivocal, and specific right to have Owens witness Taylor’s execution. The court held that that statute should prevail over a more general one that outlines a warden’s discretion to make rules for prison management and safety.

SPRINGFIELD (AP) – A Springfield man has been charged with murder in a fatal shooting from more than two years ago.

The Greene County Prosecuting Attorney’s office on Tuesday charged 31-year-old Carlos Tureaud with second-degree murder. Authorities say he killed Marcus Wells during a party at a Springfield apartment complex in September 2012.

They say witnesses were reluctant to talk to police for years because they were afraid of Tureaud. A witness in April told police Tureaud was responsible and expressed guilt about not being truthful previously.

Tureaud is being held without bond. It wasn’t immediately clear if he has an attorney.

LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City-area prosecutors have charged a man who they say dragged a suicide victim’s corpse into a portable restroom and lit it on fire.

Twenty-four-year-old Sean Lloyd has been charged with abandonment of a corpse and knowingly burning an object. A Jackson County park ranger found 30-year-old Jackson Guzman’s body on Nov. 20 in the parking lot of the Frank White Jr. Softball Complex near Longview Lake in Lee’s Summit.

Lloyd contacted deputies after the discovery and said that the Shawnee, Kansas, man shot himself in the head after they had been drinking. Lloyd says he was scared to call deputies because he was on probation, so he looked up what to do on the Internet.

Online jail records didn’t indicate an attorney for Lloyd.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Topeka police say a woman has been shot and wounded by her neighbor who was cleaning his rifle.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the woman was shot in the forearm in her apartment Tuesday evening as she returned from grocery shopping. Sgt. Steve Roth says the man had removed the magazine from his gun but didn’t realize a bullet was in the chamber. Roth says the weapon fired when the man set it down.

Police say the bullet traveled through the man’s television and wall. The woman was taken to an area hospital and Roth says her injury didn’t appear to be life-threatening.

Roth says the man likely won’t be charged because there wasn’t any criminal intent. He says the man was shaken up and remorseful.

Their identities haven’t been released.