Boonville man who was accused of punching deputy now charged with attempted child enticement

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 72-year-old Boonville man who employed girls to help manufacture and distributed weed-related items has been charged with attempted child enticement.

Stanley Thomas was charged in Cooper County on Tuesday with attempted child enticement, money laundering and giving drugs to someone younger than 17 years old.

He is being held at the Cooper County Jail. A $150,000 bond was set in this case. A $50,000 bond was set in another case from January where he was accused of punching a deputy while the warrant was served on Jan. 20.

The probable cause statement says when law enforcement served the search warrant on Jan. 20, a 17-year-old girl was found hiding in the bathroom. The deputy wrote a stripper pole was also found in the residence that was known to be used by the youth. The girl claimed there was nothing sexual going on with her and Thomas, though text messages that were sexual in nature were later found on a cellphone between Thomas and a minor.

Thomas also allegedly had a tattoo of the girl’s name on his shoulder, the deputy wrote. The girl also had THC pens in her purse when law enforcement arrived, the statement says.

Text messages also allegedly appeared to show Thomas to set up illegal sales of weed, the statement says.

In his second case, he was charged with drug possession, third-degree assault of a special victim, resisting arrest and maintaining a public nuisance.