Imprisoned sex offender charged in Morgan County child sex trafficking case

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Prosecutors charged a Versailles, Missouri, man Friday in connection with a woman accused of trafficking a child for sex.

Three-time convicted sex offender Dennis M. Hobbs Jr. is charged with two counts of first-degree child molestation and a count of child sexual misconduct, according to court records. Hobbs is serving a sentence for child sodomy and molestation in the Missouri Department of Corrections. He was charged as a persistent offender.

Hobbs' victim said they were 4 or 5 years old when the abuse, which included drugging, began in 2018 and 2019, according to a probable cause statement. Detectives interrogated Hobbs in prison on Nov. 1, 2023, the statement says.

Hobbs denied the claims but acknowledged knowing the victim. However, investigators wrote in the statement that he was out of prison when the victim was 4 to 5 years old, allowing him to commit the crime.

Parts of the statement and some of the details are identical to information given to the courts while charging Stacy Schumacher, also of Versailles, this week with child sex trafficking. The heavily redacted statement indicates the same victim was involved in each case.

No hearings have been set in Hobbs' case. Schumacher is due in court Tuesday. She remains jailed without bond.