Month: June 2022

A man from Branson has pleaded guilty to threat charges after he sent a violent threat to employees of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office.

27-year-old Joshua Bippert pleaded guilty in U.S. District court to one count of transmitting a threat across state lines to injure another person.

Bippert confessed to sending a private message on Instagram to the California patrol office in September of 2020 after deputies arrested a man for carrying a firearm.

A direct quote of the message reads, “recently, a couple of your officers arrested a man for owning a firearm. If you want more of your officers to end up like the two that got shot while sitting in their patrol car, then go ahead and keep the charges. Release the man who did nothing wrong but keep his second amendment rights, or there will be blood. This is a threat.”

The first part of the threat is in reference to a shooting a week prior to the message being sent in which two Los Angeles County deputies were shot and killed.

Investigators also found several other messages and social media posts where Bippert threatened violent action.

Bippert’s guilty plea carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Springfield Police are actively attempting to apprehend a suspect who has barricaded himself in a home in Springfield.

Authorities have not revealed the identity of the suspect, or his charges, but they tracked him to a home on East Caravan near Glenstone from a crime scene on Adams Street.

Police have been attempting to negotiate with the suspect, who has barricaded himself inside the house.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

A motorcyclist is in the hospital after a vehicle crash in East Springfield Wednesday morning.

Investigators say the accident happened on Chestnut Expressway at around 9:30 Wednesday morning, when a motorcycle collided with a pickup truck.

Reports say the pickup truck was attempting to cross an intersection while the motorcycle was travelling along the roadway, colliding with the truck.

First responders took the motorcyclist to a local hospital, but say their injuries are non-life threatening.

Former U.S. Sen. John Danforth and others are urging an attorney for the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection to make an independent run for Missouri’s open Senate seat.

A committee on Monday launched a website encouraging John F. Wood to run for retiring GOP Sen. Roy Blunt’s seat.

Former Senator Danforth said in an interview that he had nothing to do with the website but does want Wood to run.

Wood once worked on Danforth’s Senate staff.

Authorities with the Camden County Sheriff’s Office say they have arrested a man who engaged in a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old family member.

Richard Bennett has been charged with incest and statutory rape after someone close to the family reported the incident to police.

Police discovered Bennett had a sexual relationship with a member of his family under-18. They also discovered the child had given birth.

DNA evidence by investigators confirmed with “99.999%” accuracy that Bennett is the father of the child the 16-year-old gave birth to.

Bennett was 32 at the time of the birth.

Investigators say that following the child’s birth, Bennett and the girl got married after receiving permission from her mother.

A fire has damaged several businesses in a shopping center in Kimberling City.

The started at around 1:40 a.m. Tuesday at the Buttonwood Shopping Center.

Investigators say the fire began in the back of the center.

No one was hurt.

The shopping center includes a restaurant, a discount store and an ice cream shop.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

A Joplin police officer shot and wounded in the line of duty is back at work.

Officer Rick Hershey was shot in the face while in his patrol car March 8th.

He was one of three officers shot by Anthony Felix, who ambushed Corporal Benjamin Cooper and Officer Jake Reed.

Cooper and Reed died from injuries sustained in the shooting.

Felix was shot and killed by police.

For now, Officer Hershey will be on light duty status, assisting with administrative work.