Neosho man draws 15 years in child sexual abuse case

Jeff Lehr, The Joplin Globe, Mo.
·1 min read
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Oct. 29—NEOSHO, Mo. — A 19-year-old man pleaded guilty Friday to a reduced charge in a child sexual abuse case and was sent to prison for 15 years.

David M. Cox, of Neosho, pleaded guilty in Newton County Circuit Court to an amended count of child molestation in the third degree in a plea agreement dismissing a second count and calling for the 15-year sentence. He had been scheduled to go to trial next week on charges of first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy, both of which can carry up to life in prison.

Judge Jacob Skouby accepted the plea deal and assessed the defendant the agreed-upon length of prison term.

Prosecutor Will Lynch said in a news release announcing the sentencing that Cox purportedly molested a girl on multiple occasions between the summer of 2017 and the summer of 2020 when the victim was between the ages of 11 and 14. The girl first disclosed the abuse to investigators in an interview at the Children's Center in Joplin in the fall of 2021.

Cox turned 17 in February 2020, allowing the criminal court supervision over the acts he committed that year.

Jeff Lehr is a reporter for The Joplin Globe.