Child endangerment case against Joplin father dismissed
May 7—The Jasper County prosecutor's office Thursday dismissed a felony child endangerment count that a Joplin father was facing when the child's mother failed to show up to testify against him at a preliminary hearing.
Jeremy D. Johnson, 38, was scheduled for a preliminary hearing in Jasper County Circuit Court that was scuttled due to the unwillingness of the mother to pursue prosecution of the case, according to the prosecutor's office.
Johnson was charged with the offense after a Sept. 25 incident in which the mother of his son came by his home after work to pick up the child and could not find the baby. She told police that Johnson was asleep in bed with a bottle of liquor next to him.
She finally found her baby locked inside a vehicle parked in Johnson's driveway, according to a probable-cause affidavit. She had to go back inside the house and find his car keys to get the child out.
The affidavit states that Johnson admitted to drinking and falling asleep but claimed the boy had only been left in the vehicle for three minutes.
