Rural Stella man's molestation charge dismissed

Jan. 12—NEOSHO, Mo. — The Newton County prosecutor's office has dismissed a child molestation charge that a 56-year-old defendant was facing.

Sai Kao Yang, of rural Stella, was scheduled for a preliminary hearing Monday in Newton County Circuit Court on a count of second-degree child molestation that had been filed in September in connection with alleged acts with a 14-year-old girl.

The prosecutor's office informed the court that the state could not proceed with the hearing and that the charge was being dismissed due to an unwillingness of the victim's family to have the girl testify in court.

The girl had told child abuse investigators with the Newton County Sheriff's Department and the Missouri Department of Social Services in September that Yang had come into her bedroom June when she was sick in June and touched her inappropriately. She said that he left the room after the initial touching but then returned and molested her.

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