Vernon County mother receives probation in abuse of child
Nov. 13—NEVADA, Mo. — A rural Milo woman pleaded guilty this week to a reduced charge in an abuse case involving her 11-year-old child and was placed on probation.
Shannon M. Bates 39, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Vernon County Circuit Court to a count of first-degree child endangerment in a plea agreement allowing a suspended imposition of sentence with probation. She had been facing a felony count of child abuse.
Circuit Judge David Munton accepted the plea bargain and placed Bates on supervised probation for five years.
The case was brought to the attention of child abuse investigators Feb. 23 by a counselor and nurse at the school the child attends in Sheldon after multiple bruises were detected on the child's back and leg.
Disclosures regarding punishments received at home, including spankings, came out during an interview of the child by investigators and a physical exam conducted at the Children's Center in Nevada confirmed the existence of numerous bruises and evidence that some of the child's hair had been torn out.
According to a probable-cause affidavit, Bates admitted to an investigator with the Vernon County sheriff's office that she frequently spanked the child with a belt and that she may have accidentally kicked the child in the face while moving a door.
Jeff Lehr is a reporter for The Joplin Globe.
