Sarcoxie mother pleads down to misdemeanor in child endangerment case
May 21—A 39-year-old mother from Sarcoxie charged with felony endangerment of her 7-year-old daughter pleaded down to a misdemeanor this week and was placed on probation.
Amber S. Turner took a plea offer Monday in Jasper County Circuit Court calling for a suspended imposition of sentence with two years of unsupervised probation, which Judge Gayle Crane granted.
Turner was accused of letting Matthew W. Honeycutt, 23, of Neosho, take her daughter on April 15, 2023, to pick up a dog about 10 minutes away from the girl's home. When he did not return within three hours, the Jasper County sheriff's office was notified and an Amber Alert was issued.
The alert drew the attention of a motorist in Oklahoma who reported seeing Honeycutt's vehicle there headed into Missouri on Interstate 44. Joplin police stopped the vehicle, and Honeycutt was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping. Three days later, Turner was charged with endangerment.
Honeycutt eventually pleaded guilty to third-degree kidnapping and received a suspended four-year sentence Jan. 22.
