Nevada man waives hearing on felony counts in Barton County
Dec. 9—LAMAR, Mo. — A Nevada man has been ordered to stand trial in Barton County on six felony counts of stealing and three counts of financial exploitation of an elderly person.
Denis Masters, 56, waived preliminary hearings Monday on the charges in Barton County Circuit Court. Associate Judge James Nichols set the defendant's initial appearance in a trial division of the court for Dec. 15.
Court documents show the charges pertain to thefts on dates going back as far as October 2020 and as recent as August of this year.
For 2020, Masters is accused of stealing a lawn mower that was left at his repair shop and not returned for more than five months and of charging an elderly woman more than $10,000 for conversion of a silo into a gazebo that was never done, and for insulation for a garage that was never provided.
He is accused of exploiting another elderly woman in 2021 and 2022 by swindling almost $30,000 out of her for a garage that was never delivered and assembled, and painting and repairs of two houses that were never completed.
In March 2021, Masters purportedly sold a metal building to a woman for $6,000 that he never delivered to her, and he charged another woman $2,000 in April of this year for gutters he never installed.
In November of this year, a couple reported to Lamar police that Masters stole $2,000 from them that was intended to purchase sections of a barn that he had advertised for sale.
