Three offenders in mid-Missouri paroled multiple times accused of recent violent crimes
Three repeat offenders paroled from Missouri prisons are now back behind bars.
In the last two weeks, ABC 17 News reported about three offenders in mid-Missouri who have been paroled, two of them multiple times. Then, they were arrested for committing violent crimes shortly thereafter.
“Repeat offenders are a nuisance and a detriment to society,” said Detective Tom O’Sullivan with the Boone County Sheriff’s Office. “It’s very frustrating for us in law enforcement to be continually dealing with the same criminal element.”
It’s a criminal element that can be seen by the number of times an offender has been in and out of prison.
Maurice Penny was arrested in Columbia last Thursday, accused of robbing a man after a game of dice and cards, then threatening the victim if he didn’t clear his name with police.
He had recently been paroled for the sixth time prior to his most recent arrest.
Ronald Blowers did time in prison for burglary before he was paroled. He pleaded guilty last Friday to a 2012 double murder in Morgan County that happened just weeks after he was paroled.
Maxrile Barney is an offender who has violated his parole three times since 2013. He was released from prison on Saturday and was arrested the same day by Boone County Sheriff’s deputies on a warrant for an assault in Columbia back in January.
“The argument is there’s only so many prison beds, there’s only so many probation and parole officers, there’s only so many cops and it is very, very frustrating,” O’Sullivan said.
He said it’s often the same offenders committing crimes.
“That’s part of the frustration is, we’re dealing with the same relatively small percent of the population most of the time,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s a relatively small number of people creating most of the problems.”
ABC 17 News reached out the Missouri Division of Probation and Parole to try to find out more details on what factors go into the decision of whether to parole offenders, but calls were not returned as of Wednesday night.
