Latest news with #DCSO
International Business Times
3 days ago
- International Business Times
Georgia Mayor, Wife Arrested on Child Molestation, Cruelty Charges
The Decatur County Sheriff's Office (DCSO) announced on Sunday evening the arrest of 38-year-old Joseph Kelly, and his 44-year-old wife Natalie Kelly. Joseph Kelly is the current mayor of Climax, Georgia. He has been charged with two counts of child molestation. His wife, Natalie, is charged with two counts of cruelty to children in the second degree, as reported by The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI). According to the Sheriff's Office release, DCSO had been called Saturday to assist the Georgia Bureau of Investigations. GBI was investigating allegations that Joseph Kelly had sexual contact with multiple minors. Both Joseph and Natalie Kelly were arrested later that same day by GBI agents and Decatur County Sheriff's Office investigators. They were booked into the Decatur County Jail. GBI said Joseph Kelly is also employed by the Decatur County School District. According to this Facebook post, Joseph Kelly was a teacher at Bainbridge High School and was also awarded with the "Teacher of the Year" honor. DCSO says at this time, there is no indication that the alleged acts are related to Kelly's employment as Mayor. Once GBI's investigation is complete, it will be turned over to the South Georgia Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office for prosecution.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
GA mayor, wife charged with crimes against children
A small Georgia city mayor and his wife were arrested after they were accused of crimes against children, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] On Saturday, the Decatur County Sheriff's Office requested the GBI to investigate allegations against 38-year-old Joseph Kelly, of Climax, Ga. According to the GBI, Kelly was accused of having sexual contact with multiple minors. Joseph and his wife, Natalie Kelly, were arrested later that day by the GBI and the DCSO. TRENDING STORIES: 3 illegal switches found during traffic stop on I-20 Man shot in Snellville park less than 24 hours where multiple teens were injured Man found dead, burned on Stone Mountain determined to die from suicide Joseph is the mayor of Climax and is employed by the Decatur County School District, officials said. At this time, there are no indications that the alleged acts are related to his job, the GBI said. Joseph Kelly is charged with two counts of child molestation, and Natalie Kelly is charged with two counts of cruelty to children in the second degree. The pair was booked into the Decatur County Jail. Channel 2 Action News has reached out to the school district for more information. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Sheriff charges 5 in alleged adult exploitation case
The Daviess County Sheriff's Office (DCSO) charged five people Friday in what it's calling an adult exploitation case. The suspects who have been charged are Jessie A. Hoge, 34, Patricia K. Hoge, 54, Crystal Starr Hoge, 41, Brittany Jo Gray, 28, and Damien Moak, 35, all of Philpot. According to the DCSO report, detectives, patrol deputies, and animal control officers executed search warrants on Friday in the 5200 block of Pleasant Valley Road as part of an adult exploitation investigation. During the search of the residence, detectives seized evidence and detained multiple suspects who were taken to DCSO to be interviewed prior to being charged and lodged at the Daviess County Detention Center. According to the report, the investigation began in April following the death of an adult male who had been residing at the Pleasant Valley Road residence with the suspects. Prior to being moved to the suspects' residence, the victim lived in the 2100 block of Fieldcrest Drive in Owensboro in a home that he owned. The report said several of his neighbors had grown concerned about suspicious activity at his residence including unknown persons entering and exiting his residence in the weeks preceding his sudden move and subsequent death and reported their concerns to law enforcement. The report said deputy Tommy Ferry began investigating the reports, and eventually the case was assigned to Det. Matt Fitzgerald of the DCSO Criminal Investigations Division. According to the report, several legal documents, including a will and property deeds, had been allegedly forged by the suspects and that one of the suspects had moved into the Fieldcrest home with the victim and eventually facilitated moving the victim — though he still owned the Fieldcrest Drive home — to the suspects' house on Pleasant Valley Road days before the victim's death. According to the report, sheriff's investigators have located more than $20,000 worth of the victim's property at area pawn shops, and are continuing to investigate several fraudulent bank transactions as well as items missing from the victim's safety deposit box. Many items belonging to the victim were located at the suspect's residence on Pleasant Valley Road including several firearms and a Mercedes vehicle, though due to health reasons he was no longer able to drive prior to his passing. Along with DCSO, the report said the investigation has been closely coordinated with the Daviess County Commonwealth's Attorney Office and the Department of Community Based Services (DCBS). 'DCSO would like these arrests to serve as a warning to those in our community who would prey on the most vulnerable members or society,' said Sheriff Brad Youngman in a written statement. 'What they did was very wrong. If you have elderly or infirmed people in your family or neighborhood, please keep an eye on them to ensure they don't fall victim to this type of criminal activity. While I wish we could have intervened sooner, it is my hope that the actions of my deputies and detectives can still bring justice to this victim and his family. Thank you to the victim's neighbors who saw something that didn't look right and reported it to law enforcement. Without their involvement we may never have uncovered these crimes.' Jessie A. Hoge has been charged with second-degree forgery, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, knowingly exploiting an adult by person over $300, receiving stolen property $1,000 to $10,000 and second-degree cruelty to animals. Patricia K. Hoge has been charged with possession of marijuana (firearm enhanced), possession of drug paraphernalia buy/possess (firearm enhanced) and endangering the welfare of a minor. Crystal Starr Hoge has been charged with possession of marijuana (firearm enhanced) possession of drug paraphernalia buy/possess (firearm enhanced) and endangering the welfare of a minor. Gray was charged with secondary-degree forgery and second-degree animal cruelty. Moak was charged with endangering the welfare of a minor (cited into court). The report said additional charges are anticipated as the investigation continues. Due to unacceptable living conditions in the residence including uninhibited access to drugs and firearms, DCBS Child Protective Services were called to the scene to assist with and remove two children living in the home. DCSO animal control officers assisted in the execution of the search warrant and removed several animals from the property due to evidence of neglect and poor living conditions.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
Douglas Co. Sheriff details Wednesday's officer-involved shooting
DOUGLAS COUNTY, Mo. — Douglas County Sheriff Chris DeGase says he was on vacation last night when he got a call that made him drive from Mississippi overnight, back to Douglas County. 'Last night, about 6:00, deputies went to a residence on BB Highway, which is in the northwestern part of Douglas County. The female that lived there, she had multiple felony arrest warrants out for her. They went there, they knocked on the door, and she would not come out of the residence. They went into the residence to get her out,' DeGase said. That's when DeGase says chaos ensued. 'At the moment they went through the door, she fired one round. Initially, the deputies retreated back initially. They opened the door again where she fired another round at deputies in an exchange of gunfire with her. At that point, they retreated to a safe location just outside the front door. They were giving her commands to come out of the residence,' DeGase said. 'She said she had two guns,' DeGase said. 'She was not going to put them down. This went on for a few seconds and then she came to the door producing two firearms. Shots were fired. She sustained one gunshot wound to the right eye that exited by the temple area, and she was airlifted out and then she was taken by ambulance to Barnes in Saint Louis, and she is still in critical condition.' DeGase says serving warrants is one of the most dangerous parts of policing, but he says CaseNet, the popular online database with almost any public record of a Missouri court case, could potentially be making things even more dangerous. 'I think one of the biggest problems right now is people know police are coming, you know, with CaseNet and everything. I just got off the phone with our prosecutor. With CaseNet, people know they have warrants. Years ago, I mean, I'm in year 32 at law enforcement, 17 as the Sheriff, you know, it wasn't as hard to round somebody up on a warrant. Most of the time because they didn't know they had it. In situations like this, they look on CaseNet, and they know they got a warrant and they can prepare for it. So to me, that's one of the most dangerous parts of it.' The woman involved in this is Susan Sinclair, Sheriff DeGase says. It's not the first time the DCSO has run into Sinclair. 'I know we dealt with her on the issue with the with the dogs back in 2023. I believe the local city police here had an encounter with her where she may have resisted arrest with them,' DeGase said. Sinclair had been arrested for over 50 counts of animal neglect and abandonment, and had been sentenced in 2024. DeGase adds the only reason the DCSO was even at Sinclair's home Wednesday night was because she wasn't following the rules of her previous sentencing. 'She was not in compliance with what she was supposed to be doing when she took a plea agreement on the initial charge,' DeGase said. DeGase is hoping Sinclair recovers but hopes she's charged and put in jail. 'I mean, she shot at law enforcement. She should never see the light of day. Even if she shot at somebody else, she should never be out. I think just the actions that she took, I mean, my guys gave her every opportunity to come out of that house and not get shot. There's going to be some more evidence that will come forward that, you know, indicate that that she was not no matter what happened, she wasn't going to come out without a fight,' DeGase said. 'We're just kind of in the beginning stages of that portion of this investigation, but, yeah, it's I mean, honestly, I hope we never have to deal with her again. You know, not saying that I wish she was dead. I'm just saying, you know, when it comes time for her to go to court, she does not need to see the light of day again.' As of now, the two deputies involved are currently on paid leave. The Christian County Sheriff's Office will investigate the officer-involved shooting. DeGase thanks the Ava Police Department for stepping in to help with calls during the initial response last night. 'A lot of people don't realize that our calls still kept coming in, and the Ava Police Department was taking calls for hours out in the county because every single one of my deputies were tied up there, and we really appreciate that,' DeGase said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Yahoo
Fair Grove man faces felony charges after gunshot wound found in child
DALLAS COUNTY, Mo. — A man from Fair Grove faces several felony child abuse and neglect charges after a reported dog bite of a child led to the discovery of a more serious injury. According to court dockets, Dustin Lee Stephenson, born 1987, is charged with one count of abuse or neglect of a child causing serious emotional or physical injury, as well as three counts of abuse or neglect of a child, in Dallas County Circuit Court. The probable cause statement says the incident occurred on April 10, 2023, when law enforcement from the Dallas County Sheriff's Office (DCSO) were dispatched to a location in Dallas County for a child who had been bitten on the hand and in the genital area by a pit bull dog. The statement says a nurse at Citizen Memorial Hospital's (CMH) emergency room called the DCSO to take a look at the child because they felt there was more to the story than just a dog bite. The DCSO arrived at the CMH emergency room, where they met with Stephenson and the victim. The statement says that at the ER, Stephenson told the DCSO he had been putting on clothing when he heard the dog make a 'grunt' type of noise. When he looked up, the victim had blood on her hand and her belly. He told the DCSO that the dog was killed in the residence's backyard. The statement says around an hour later — after the ER put the victim under anesthesia to perform more cleanup and inspect of the wounds around her genital area — dispatch advised the DCSO that the ER had discovered a bullet lodged in the victim's pelvis area through X-rays. Noel woman dies after being struck by a car on the highway Law enforcement returned to the ER, where they were informed that the dog bite injury to the victim's genital area was, in fact, an entrance wound. A projectile bullet was lodged in her pelvis area near her tail bone, the statement says. The DCSO met with Stephenson and a witness in the hospital room, and neither one could explain the victim's injuries. Stephenson confirmed he owned guns, and according to him, they were locked in a cabinet. Stephenson said that after the dog bite incident, he had to unlock the cabinet to get a .38 revolver to kill the dog. One of the incident's witnesses fired six rounds into the dog. That day, the DCSO was granted a search warrant for the residence where the incident occurred. During the search, they recovered a black Taurus .38 revolver and a box of ammunition. They also found a bloody diaper with a bullet entrance hole. The bullet was removed from the victim at Cardinal Glennon Hospital in St. Louis. The bullet had entered her vagina labia and passed through and lodged in her rectum. She was fitted with a colostomy bag. The DCSO retrieved the bullet from the hospital on April 12, 2023. The DCSO conducted forensic interviews with the other three children who were in the home during the time of the incident. In an interview with one child, he said he was 'trying to shoot the car because the car was mad,' the statement says. The child said he retrieved the gun from the black cabinet in his father's room. The interview was discontinued after the child provided different accounts of the incident. When the DCSO interviewed Stephenson, he maintained that he thought the dog had bit the victim and that the firearm from the incident had been locked in a cabinet when he went to retrieve it to kill the dog, the statement says. Stephenson stated it is possible that the cabinet was not locked, and that it was possible one of the child witnesses had obtained the firearm, had an accidental discharge and shot the victim, and then returned the firearm to the cabinet while he was asleep, according to the statement. Stephenson is currently held in the Dallas County Jail with a $60,000 bond. He's due in court on June 10. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
