Montgomery County man charged with statutory rape, sodomy, child molestation in Cole County

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man from Montgomery County was charged with nine child sex crimes after authorities claim he sexually abused two children for several years.

Joshua Stone, 40, of Montgomery City, was charged on Wednesday in Cole County with two counts of first-degree statutory rape, two counts of statutory sodomy, two counts of first-degree child molestation, one count of child enticement and two counts of incest. He is being held at the Cole County Jail without bond. A court date has not been scheduled.

The probable cause statement says the Department of Family Services had tipped off police on Dec. 5 about Stone committing possible sexual abuse against multiple youth. Both children were younger than 12 years old when they were abused, the statement says.

One of the children had disclosed to a guardian about the abuse, the guardian then told the mother of the child, who claimed one of the victims previously described an instance of sex abuse by Stone, the statement says.

One of the youth described multiple assaults by Stone, while another victim described the assaults and claimed Stone made threats toward them to prevent them from telling anyone about the abuse, the statement says.

Stone was arrested on Tuesday and denied the allegations, court documents say. A deputy noted in the statement that Stone tried to “redirect the conversation to matters not pertaining to the allegations.”