Defendant in Carl Junction pill-theft case sent to prison
May 7—A Festus man accused of forcibly swiping pills from two other people pleaded guilty to an assault charge this week in Jasper County Circuit Court and was sentenced to four years in prison.
Jacob L. Besore, 27, pleaded guilty to third-degree assault at a hearing Monday in a plea agreement dismissing related counts of second-degree robbery, stealing and possession of a controlled substance.
Circuit Judge Gayle Crane accepted the plea bargain and assessed the agreed-upon length of sentence.
A Carl Junction police officer on patrol July 3 of last year saw the defendant pick up a woman and slam her to the ground at a property on Gum Road near Missouri Highway 171.
The officer stopped and made contact with Besore, who initially denied doing what the officer saw him do and then pulled some alprazolam pills out of his pocket and declared he needed to take them or he would die.
The officer saw that the pill bottle did not belong to Besore and would not let him take the pills. The officer found two more pill bottles on the defendant's person that contained the seizure medication of the woman he allegedly threw to the ground and learned that he had not only taken those from her against her will but also the alprazolam pills belonging to a second woman, according to a probable-cause affidavit.
