That's 30 miles from me. Interviewed for the job at the school there 2 years ago. No real bearing on the situation, just FYI
I wish the sentences averaged 39.4 years. I suspect the reality is much, much smaller. ??? He was chief for 5 years and had no clue this was happening? Maybe he should be locked up, too, for malfeasance.
Diamond's a town of about 1,000 people. Probably about 3 cops. Very limited resources. They left all that sort of thing, I'm sure, to the Jasper county sheriff office out of nearby Joplin.
The OP didn't quote this little nugget - that mayor that was nabbed? He was also "pastor of Temple Lot Church".
Southwest Missouri is an epicenter for World Class Theo-freaks. His combining churchy-ness and kiddie-fiddling is less a surprise than is people thinking it is surprising.
Missouri is one scary ass state. I remember a few years back I drove from my parents home in Iowa to Matamoros MX. I had to drive thru Missouri. Every radio commerical was either about guns, tractors, or offering dental services to people who "shouldn't be embarassed if you haven't been to a dentist in over 10 years." It's also the state that spawned that blob that we call Rush Limbaugh.
In other news, the men's soccer coach of Howard University in Virginia just got busted in the same manner (and in his case, he actually made the trip to meet the "girl").
My favorite Missouri moment was driving back to St. Louis from a camping trip in southern Missouri and seeing a huge billboard with a baby picture on it with the words "Are you my daddy?". It was advertising DNA paternity testing.