Suspect at large in Camden County child abuse case
Authorities are searching for a Linn Creek man who allegedly assaulted a minor at a Camdenton home in late August.
Shane West, 47, was charged Friday with child molestation and attempted statutory sodomy, but deputies have yet to locate him.
Investigators found the alleged incident occurred when the victim, who was 15-years-old at a time, stayed at the friend’s house for the night. West, a relative of the alleged victim’s friends, was also staying at the home.
According to a probable cause statement, the alleged victim woke up to find West stroking their hair around 2 a.m.
West allegedly told the victim to “come into the living room” so they could have sex. West touched the victim’s groin and chest while they pretended to be asleep, “hoping that Shane would leave,” according to the court documents.
Deputies say West entered and left the room with the alleged vicitm a total of three times during the incident, and remains at large.
“After trying extensively to locate Shane West, I have been informed that he has left the State of Missouri headed out East to an unknown location,” Officer Michael Schwartze of the Camdenton Police Department said in the probable cause statement.
Schwartze said in court documents that West was a subject in a 2016 sexual abuse investigation.
