Plea offer accepted, suspended sentence granted in child molestation case

Jan. 13—NEOSHO, Mo. — A Joplin man accepted an offer this week to plead down to a lesser offense in a child molestation case and was assessed a suspended sentence and probation.

Samuel J. Butcher, 38, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Newton County Circuit Court to a reduced count of felony child endangerment, was assessed a suspended sentence of seven years and placed on supervised probation for five years.

Butcher was facing a more serious offense of first-degree child molestation in connection with contact with a child in 2015 when the child was 6 or 7 years old.

Will Lynch, the Newton County prosecutor, said the plea offer was made when it became clear during pretrial depositions of the child, who is now 13, that they were uncertain of the exact location where the contact took place, raising the possibility that the molestation may have taken place in another county.

Butcher waived a preliminary hearing Tuesday on the original charge to get his case bound over to the trial division of the court, where he could accept the plea offer and be sentenced.

Judge Jacob Skouby accepted the plea deal and placed the defendant on probation with an order to have no further contact with the child.

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