Joplin woman pleads guilty to sex offender registration violation
Jun. 17—A 43-year-old Joplin woman pleaded guilty this week to violating the state's sex offender registration law.
Heather R. Walker pleaded guilty Monday in Jasper County Circuit Court to failure to register as a sex offender in a plea agreement promising that the prosecutor's office will not oppose the possibility of a suspended imposition of sentence.
Judge Dean Dankelson ordered the completion of a sentencing assessment of the defendant and set her sentencing hearing for Aug. 9. She faces up to four years in prison for the offense.
Court records show that Walker was convicted in 2011 of a misdemeanor sexual assault charge in Arkansas. Walker had registered her address with the Jasper County Sheriff's Department as 1815 S. Empire Ave. in July 2018 but was no longer living there on Oct. 31, 2018, when the sheriff's office checked the address.
A probable-cause affidavit states that she came into the sheriff's office the following day to update her registration and provided an address on Ornate Lane. But an investigator allegedly learned that she had been "couch hopping" during October and had failed to register the addresses at which she was staying.
