Joplin woman bound over on 13 felony charges

Jan. 21—A 38-year-old woman waived preliminary hearings last week on 13 felony charges — ranging from burglary to forgery, stealing and trafficking in stolen identities — that she is facing from arrests in April 2022.

Joplin resident Amy C. Feagan waived hearings Thursday on three cases in Jasper County Circuit Court and was ordered bound over for trial. Judge Joseph Hensley set a hearing Feb. 8 for Feagan's initial appearance in a trial division of the court.

Feagan was under investigation for allegedly trying to use three debit or credit cards belonging to another person in March of last year at the Walmart store in Webb City when she was arrested April 19 by Carthage police on numerous charges. Joplin police brought charges against her the following day and Webb City police soon followed suit.

In the Webb City case, she was charged with two counts of receiving stolen property and a misdemeanor offense of fraudulent use of credit device.

The Carthage case began with the theft in January 2022 of a woman's purse at the Carthage YMCA. The victim's credit cards subsequently were used at various locations, leading to a number of the charges against her. Police in Carthage also allegedly tied her to both the theft of a vehicle and thefts from vehicles in March.

Joplin police sought and obtained three counts of forgery and a single count of receiving stolen property on Feagan as well as misdemeanor counts of fraudulent use of a credit device and identity theft.

Her arrest came when detectives from Carthage and Joplin joined Jasper County sheriff's deputies in serving a search warrant April 19 at the home of the defendant and her alleged accomplice in some of the crimes, James B. Akard, 43, of Joplin. Akard faces five felony charges and a misdemeanor in his case.

Jeff Lehr is a reporter for The Joplin Globe.