Second woman accused of leaving child in care of registered sex offender

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A second woman has been charged with first-degree child endangerment after she allegedly left a child in the care of a Pettis County sex offender.

Shawna Spence, of Sedalia, was charged on Wednesday. A warrant was issued and no court date has been scheduled.

She is one of two woman accused of leaving a child in the care of Matthew Platt, who was indicted this week in his child molestation case. He was originally charged last week with first-degree child molestation and failing to register as a sex offender. He has an arraignment scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Monday, May 18.

Kristy White was also charged in the case with first-degree child endangerment. She has a counsel status hearing scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 12.

The probable cause statements in the case say that the victim told authorities on April 5 about five separate instances of being sexually abused by Barrett.

Platt allegedly denied the allegations to law enforcement, but then claimed he gave the young child a “hickey” on their arm because the victim “asked him to do it,” court documents say.