Neosho man sentenced to 15 years for child molestation

NEOSHO, Mo. – A Neosho man entered a plea of guilty in Newton County Circuit Court to a count of Child Molestation in the Third Degree and was sentenced to 15 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections.

David M. Cox, 19, was sentenced by Judge Jake Skouby of the 40th Judicial Circuit on Friday, October 28, 2022, less than a week ahead of a scheduled jury trial in the matter.

In the Fall of 2021, the juvenile victim gave a disclosure to a forensic interviewer at the Children’s Center in Joplin, Missouri that the victim had been forcibly molested by the defendant multiple times between the summer of 2017 and the summer of 2020 when the victim was between the ages of 11 and 14. The defendant turned 17 in February of 2020, giving the criminal court jurisdiction over the matter. The 15-year sentence is the maximum sentence allowed under law for Child Molestation in the Third Degree.

“David Cox will spend hard time in the Department of Corrections. In cases like these, we are charged with balancing justice for juvenile sexual assault survivors against the trauma of repeatedly having to re-live their experience through testifying,” said Newton County Prosecuting Attorney William Lynch. “We remain cognizant of how difficult the criminal justice system can be  on survivors while also doing our best to hold criminal defendants accountable.”

This case was investigated by Officer Matt Hixson previously of the Granby Police Department and prosecuted by William Lynch and J.D. Hatcher of the Newton County Prosecutor’s Office.