SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Plato, Mo., man who initially confessed during a pre-employment polygraph examination when he applied for employment at the Missouri State Highway Patrol was sentenced in federal court today for producing child pornography.

Cedric Lovejoy, 29, of Plato, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 20 years in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Lovejoy to spend the rest of his life on supervised release following incarceration. Lovejoy pleaded guilty on Dec. 2, 2014.

Lovejoy participated in a pre-employment polygraph interview and examination conducted by the Missouri State Highway Patrol on Nov. 9, 2012. During the interview, Lovejoy confessed that he had taken video footage of himself receiving oral sex from the then-14-year-old victim. State troopers executed a search warrant at Lovejoy’s residence and seized his computers, which contained the child pornography video Lovejoy had taken with his cell phone.

(Missourinet) – The state Fire Marshall’s office says it can’t determine what caused the fire that killed four children late Tuesday night at a Lake of the Ozarks condominium.

Officials say the fire appears to have started just outside the door to the fourth floor unit the four children were in, but the damage was extensive enough it destroyed the evidence needed to pinpoint a cause.

The children who died have been identified as Kairi Helton and Zeza Bradshaw, both two, four-year-old Lee Ann Hendrickson and five-year-old Joshua Hendrickson.

(Missourinet) – Missouri transportation officials say the state still needs a way to pay for full maintenance of its highways and bridges, and are hoping for a solution from the legislature in 2016. Several legislators have indicated that the issue will be a priority in the next regular session.

A proposal to increase Missouri’s fuel tax didn’t come to a vote in this year’s session. Senator Doug Libla (R-Poplar Bluff) told Missourinet he will offer a bill again in 2016 and as the chair of the Senate’s transportation committee he will entertain any other proposals that are offered.
He still favors an increase in the gas tax.

“You kind of pay as you go,” Libla said of the fuel tax. “I like that a lot, and then the people that use the highways help maintain them and help build new ones. I think the motor fuel tax has precedent … 91 years of it. It’s a practical way to collect the money and it’s also predictable.”

Highway Commission Chairman Stephen Miller said he continues to make his case not just to lawmakers but to the general public that more money is needed. He wants Missourians to see additional dollars for roads and bridges as an investment.

“They’ve asked us to run this department as a business and we’ve tried to respond to that call,” said Miller. “We have done what almost no other government agency in Missouri or other states have done, where we have downsized our workforce by 20-percent … we’ve sold off 124 facilities and 744 pieces of equipment. We’ve done all that, and they’ve asked us to act like a business but then nobody wants to fund us like a business. What business could survive without working capital, without funding? We rely totally on our citizens. We don’t have products to sell, goods to sell. What we have is services to provide in transportation, but unless people are willing to pay for it, how can we run like a business?”

Miller said in states that have increased funding for transportation, it has been seen as an investment that supports economic development.

“We’re in a trans-global economy where we’re not only competing among cities and states, but we’re competing worldwide,” said Miller. “People are looking where to go and the major drivers, we all know, are two things. An educated workforce and a transportation system.”

Miller said there is frustration not only in Missouri but at the national level about how to fund transportation.

“It just a little bit defies logic and common sense,” said Miller. “I think historically we have always had passionate views about how we ought to invest public funds in social programs and other things but the areas where we never had a disagreement were national defense and infrastructure. The frustration’s just not Missouri, it’s also manifest on the federal level. The one area where Democrats and Republicans could always agree upon was a six-year plan for building our highway program, and now we can see we’re on our thirty-fourth extension where we are unable to get basic agreement.”

During the session, lawmakers were told the passage of Libla’s proposed fuel tax increase was needed to eliminate a risk that Missouri would lose federal transportation dollars. Since then, Miller says improvements in car sales and other unexpected boosts in the economy mean that Missouri is no longer in danger of losing that money.

“It was accurate to say at the time that based on the revenue projections … that we were going to have a shortfall in our local, state funds that we would normally use to match,” said Miller.

He said what he hopes Missourians will focus on is that meeting the federal match requirement is not the goal.

“I’m happy that we have that money … but this isn’t kind of the disciplined funding approach that you can move a system forward, and we would be so foolish to think that, you know, ‘Problem solved,’” said Miller. “Just meeting federal match just keeps us at the same, mediocre funding we’ve always been before. Until we figure out how to add money, either through a bigger federal program or a state program or both, we are not going to be able to achieve even the goal of preserving the current system.”

Miller said one thing working against transportation funding, not just in Missouri but elsewhere, is the position of many lawmakers that they do not want to raise taxes.

“They pledge, they take this conscientious objection to raising taxes for any reason, and that makes a tough dialog in the state of Missouri,” said Miller.
Still, he said he is hopeful about some mechanism being passed even in with the general election looming – a time when lawmakers might be even more hesitant to support an issue they believe will be unpopular with voters.

“I do see that we’re moving that needle a little bit more. I’m hopeful about the commitment of the governor, who came out last year and really supported the idea of the fuel tax … I’m hopeful about our new speaker, who I think has an interest in transportation … we’ll wait to see who the new president pro tem of the senate is,” said Miller. “I feel that we’re getting some traction with leadership that, maybe I haven’t felt as positive in the past.”

(Missourinet) – Four children have died in a condominium fire Tuesday night at the Lake of the Ozarks. Osage Beach Fire Chief Jeff Dorhauer says firefighters got there within minutes of the emergency call.

“At 11:21 p.m. the first 911 call came in from Compass Point Condominiums in Osage Beach. Crews arrived on the scene right about 11:30 p.m. They found heavy fire on the fourth floor and through the roof of the unit,” says Dorhauer.

“En route to the call, we were advised of individuals possibly trapped. Crews arriving on the scene found two adults on the third floor in an exterior window. They were able to rescue those two adults,” says Dorhauer.

The father of one of the children was in the residence at the time of the fire. He was able to escape on his own. Dorhauer says the man tried to go back inside to save others, but he was unsuccessful.

Dorhauer says firefighters couldn’t get to the children in time.

“The fire was so intense on the fourth floor that we couldn’t make entry,” says Dorhauer. “We quickly knocked down the fire. We recovered four children.”

Two of the children were 2 years old, one was 4 and the other was 5. They were cousins and there to celebrate the birthday of one of the children.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. Some of the occupants told investigators that they awoke to the sound of smoke detectors blaring. Dorhauer says there are also reports of an explosion being heard.

“In the area where there was heavy damage, there were several air conditioning units. It’s a possibility that it could’ve been a compressor. It could’ve been an aerosol can. It is something we’re looking into but we haven’t determined what that cause was,” says Dorhauer.

Investigators haven’t determined if the fire started inside or outside, but the area near the children is where the heaviest damage was.

Names of the victims have not been released, pending notification of next of kin.

Eleven fire departments, three ambulance services and Osage Beach Police responded to the four-alarm fire. It took crews almost three hours to put out.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Lebanon, Mo., woman pleaded guilty in federal court today to a Ponzi scheme in which she stole more than $415,000 from victim investors.

Terina K. Carney, also known as Terina Humphrey, 49, of Lebanon, waived her right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge David P. Rush to a federal information that charges her with wire fraud, money laundering and failure to file a tax return.

By pleading guilty Tuesday, Carney admitted that she defrauded numerous investors, who lost a total of $415,722 as a result of Carney’s wire fraud scheme from December 2012 to January 2015.

Carney was the owner of Riverside Lease, LLC. Carney told investors their money would be used as an advance payment on behalf of a third-party business, in order to allow the business to continue operating while it secured long-term funding from a bank. Carney promised to obtain a high rate of return for investors, from 10 percent to 30 percent on top of their original investment. Investors were told that, once the business received its long-term funding from the bank, they would receive their original investment plus interest from those funds. Investors were also told that Riverside Lease held their money and there was little to no risk of the investor losing their principal investment because the third-party business never had direct access to their money.

After reviewing bank account information, agents determined that once the investor’s money was received, the money was never used to provide short-term financing for any other business. Based on financial records, Carney actually used the money to pay other investors or to pay for personal expenses. Agents also determined that the monthly statements sent to investors, which claimed the amount of money held within their individual investment account, were also false as the bank accounts were repeatedly emptied of any monies to pay other investors or unrelated bills.

Carney never registered with the State of Missouri as an investment adviser, investment adviser representative, broker-dealer, broker-dealer agent, or issuer agent.

Carney also admitted that she deposited $520,119 from victim investors during 2012, 2013 and 2014, but she did not file federal income tax returns for any of these years.

Under federal statutes, Carney is subject to a sentence of up to 31 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $525,000. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court Tuesday for robbing a Raytown, Mo., bank.

Robert T. Morris, 32, of Kansas City, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips to 19 months in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Morris to pay $2,025 in restitution.

On March 26, 2015, Morris pleaded guilty to stealing $2,025 from First Federal Bank, 9330 E. Gregory, Raytown. Co-defendant Anthony Beeks, 53, of Kansas City, also pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 13, 2015.

On April 24, 2014, Morris entered the bank, approached the teller counter and provided the teller with a demand note, which was similar in verbiage to the following, “YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS, HURRY UP, PUT THE MONEY IN THE BAG, NO FUNNY BUSINESS, HURRY UP.” The teller did not have access to any money, but walked over to another teller and showed her the demand note. The second teller then provided Morris with $2,025. Morris put the stolen money in a manila envelope and fled from the bank. The demand note was left behind.

A witness told law enforcement officers that Morris had admitted his role in the robbery to him. The witness also recognized Morris from bank surveillance photos that were posted on a media Web site. Over the course of several days, law enforcement officers conducted surveillance on Morris and Beeks. During this time frame, officers observed what they believed to be multiple “casings” of various banks in the Kansas City metropolitan area. On May 22, 2014, a federal search warrant was executed on the vehicle Morris and Beeks had been driving. Morris was arrested the same day.

 

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A prior sex offender was sentenced in federal court Tuesday for sexually abusing five separate child victims in the Philippines.

“This sexual predator abused an untold number of young children,” Dickinson said. “Today’s tough sentence ensures the public – and more importantly, his victims – that he will never be released from prison. A lengthy sentence also sends an unmistakable message about the consequences for committing such a monstrous crime against the most vulnerable members of society.

“He thought he could move to another country to escape the legal repercussions of his actions,” Dickinson added, “but he was not beyond the reach of justice.”

Kenneth Gaylord Stokes, 71, a U.S. citizen who resided near the city of Cebu in the Philippines, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 120 years in federal prison without parole.

On Jan. 27, 2015, Stokes pleaded guilty to five counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places. Stokes was arrested at his Philippines residence on Dec. 3, 2012, and deported to the United States. He has been in federal custody without bond since his arrest. Stokes has a prior conviction for raping a 7-year-old child in the state of Washington.

In July 2012, a federal agent located a Craigslist advertisement from Stokes that offered photography services in the Philippines. Stokes and the agent communicated via e-mail for several months, during which time Stokes e-mailed to the agent photos of juvenile females, some of whom were in sexually explicit poses.

According to court documents, Stokes told the undercover agent during the exchange of e-mails that he had “no limits” on taking videos or photographs and that he had married a Filipino woman “to get to her daughter” and later made her “disappear.” Stokes indicated in one e-mail that the undercover agent could “have any preteen” he wanted in the Philippines.

The agent expressed his interest in meeting Stokes, who encouraged the agent to visit and indicated that he would help facilitate sexual liaisons with both his own wife and Filipino children.

According to court documents, the Deputy Attaché in the Philippines indicated that Stokes had been confronted by local authorities in 2012 after he reportedly molested a juvenile female and took explicit photographs of her. Apparently, no action was taken by those authorities.

On Dec. 3, 2012 the agent met Stokes at his residence in the Philippines. Stokes explained that he planned to take the agent to two different locations where he would be able to find children to sexually victimize, according to court documents. Stokes also expressed his desire for the agent to impregnate his wife in hopes that he would later be able to use the child for sexual purposes. Stokes explained that his wife would not consent to having sex with the undercover agent and encouraged him to rape her.

Stokes also bragged that he had taken thousands of images depicting child pornography, according to court documents, and indicated that people in other countries paid him to produce made-to-order child pornography. Stokes later told investigators that he had produced child pornography for multiple individuals and sold collections of child pornography for as much as $1,250. One such collection has been discovered in other investigations.

Stokes showed the undercover agent multiple images of child pornography on his laptop computer. The undercover agent left the house and returned with local law enforcement officers to arrest Stokes.

Investigators seized Stokes’s computers and conducted a forensic examination. They were able to determine the identities of five minor females (identified as Jane Doe #1, #2, #3, #4, and #5) who later told law enforcement officers that Stokes paid them to pose for the sexually explicit photos. Investigators found thousands of pictures and video recordings depicting child pornography on Stokes’s computers, as well as a script for a movie depicting the sexual and physical abuse of a child.

(Missourinet) – Seventeen candidates seeking the Republican nomination for president will be featured in two debates tomorrow night hosted by Fox News. Ten will face each other in a debate in prime time, while the remaining seven will debate earlier in the evening.

A University of Missouri professor internationally recognized as a scholar of presidential debates says there is typically more value in these primary debates than in those held closer to the general election.

Professor of Communication Mitchell McKinney says still in question going into that debate is what the identity of the party will be in the 2016 campaign cycle, and whether that will be represented by a more moderate or a more conservative candidate.

McKinney told Missourinet it will be, “A discussion, a debate of, ‘What kind of party are we, what are we all about, what are we going to stand for?’”

“Will there be one of more so-called moderate Republicans emerge as the frontrunner? What about this, and I think there’s a slew of them, a slew of the candidates that tend to lean more right in terms of their issue positions,” said McKinney.

McKinney says from a voters’ perspective, there is often more to learn at a debate at this stage of a campaign than in one held later, when many voters’ minds are already made up.

“As a frontrunner I’ve seen the polls, even if we look at sort of an average of these polls, it has Donald Trump at 18, 19, 20-percent. That leaves a lot of undecided or softly committed … or simply someone making a decision based on name recognition,” said McKinney. “Once we start to see these candidates perform in these debates [we often see] great change and shifts in commitments, and so I think that’s one of the things we point to in primary debates is that they tend to have much more of an effect in helping people make decisions.”

Donald Trump has dominated national coverage of the Republican field of presidential candidates in recent weeks. McKinney says it will also be interesting to see Trump have to share the floor.

“Once he’s on the debate stage and he has to share, that’s a feature of these debates, with multiple candidates … share the microphone, share the time, we see him interact not just in his own private interviews or his own staged events, but he’s standing there right next to these folks,” said McKinney, “how does he interact with them? How does he handle them? How does he address them? How does he deal with counterpunches when one of them goes after him? All of those dynamics are yet to be seen.”

(Missourinet) – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri) strongly opposes a bill to bar federal funding from Planned Parenthood. A Senate vote to bring the bill up for debate fell short Monday.

McCaskill told MSNBC that taking away funding for birth control will increase abortions.

“We all want to prevent abortions. How in the world do we prevent abortions by taking away money for birth control from millions of women across this country?” asked McCaskill. “Investigate them (Planned Parenthood) and make sure they haven’t broken the law. Don’t give them tax money for abortions but don’t cut off the very way that we avoid abortions in this country.”

“None of this money is used for abortions. It’s for birth control, cancer screenings and sexually transmitted diseases,” said McCaskill.

Planned Parenthood has been under scrutiny for videos that have surfaced alleging the organization profits from the sale of fetal organs. U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (R-Missouri) co-sponsored the measure.

(Missourinet) – The state Supreme Court has dismissed a challenge to the 2003 law that limited how much money a municipality could make from traffic tickets and fines.

The law, named for the former town of Macks Creek, set that limit and established penalties for those that didn’t report their finances.

The Missouri Municipal League argued the 2003 law was vague and was an overreach by the legislature into the power of the judiciary branch of government.

The Supreme Court has ruled that when Governor Jay Nixon signed into law Senate Bill 5, that made the Municipal League’s challenge moot. Senate Bill 5 replaced the 2003 law with stricter

limits, greater penalties, and greater requirements for municipalities. The Court said since the old law has been replaced, it can no longer be challenged.