Life In Prison For Sex Crimes Against Young Child

By turning down a 15-year-plea deal for the attempted statutory sodomy of a young girl, a Joplin man will now spend the rest of his life behind bars. Judge Gayle Crane sentenced 37-year-old David Schachtner to the harsher sentence this week since the 7-year-old victim had to re-live the horror of what happened to her by testifying in court.

The incident happened in 2017 when Schachtner went into the girl’s room and began licking her leg while she was asleep. He claims he was drunk, and stopped because he realized he was doing something wrong. The girl told investigators that he was also licking near her “private” areas and stopped when she woke up.

Schachtner maintains his innocence, and believes he was given an unfair trial.