Arkansas man bound over on child sexual abuse count

Jeff Lehr, The Joplin Globe, Mo.
·1 min read

May 24—NEOSHO, Mo. — A 43-year-old man waived a preliminary hearing Monday on a charge that he sexually assaulted a girl in 2018 when she was 4 or 5 years old.

Justin J. Millard, of Bella Vista, Arkansas, waived the hearing in Newton County Circuit Court and was ordered to stand trial on a charge of first-degree statutory rape. Associate Judge Christine Rhoades set Millard's initial appearance in a trial division for June 14.

Millard was charged two years ago after an investigation by the Newton County Sheriff's Department of disclosures made by a 6-year-old girl. The girl told investigators that Millard took her into a bathroom when she was 4 or 5 and sexually assaulted her.