Illinois man pleads down to misdemeanor in incident involving gun
Sep. 18—A 57-year-old man from Sterling, Illinois, pleaded guilty Thursday in Jasper County Circuit Court to a reduced charge in connection with an alleged gun-pointing incident at a Joplin convenience store.
Jeffery L. Kuchel pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of peace disturbance in a plea deal and was sentenced by Associate Judge Joe Hensley to seven days in jail with credit for time already served.
Kuchel had been facing a felony count of unlawful use of a weapon stemming from an incident July 15 at the Casey's convenience store on East Seventh Street in Duenweg.
A probable-cause affidavit states that witnesses told police that Kuchel had been verbally abusive to a store clerk before going out to his truck that had been parked at a gas pump for almost an hour before he entered the store. Another male customer asked the clerk if she wanted him to tell him to leave and she said she did.
When the other male customer did so, Kuchel pointed a handgun at him and made threatening statements, according to the affidavit.
