UPDATE (7/17/23) — A 25-year-old man accused of kidnapping a driver in a car he and an accomplice had commandeered will be on supervised probation for five years.
Joshua Patton was sentenced to three years in prison, but Judge Jeffrey Merrell suspended the execution of the sentence and directed him to report to probation and parole, according to online court records.
Patton and Aivyn Parker were alleged to have forced the driver to take them to Arkansas after the driver had come to assist the pair after they got a flat tire.
Patton changed his plea to guilty and was sentenced on Friday (7/14/23).
Parker had earlier pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor associated with the same incident and was sentenced to two years in prison, but the judge suspended the imposition of that sentence. She was ordered to be on supervised probation for six months.
Previous coverage:
TANEY COUNTY, Mo. — Two people are facing felonies after allegedly kidnapping the driver of a vehicle that they commandeered.
Joshua Patton, born in 1998, was charged with one felony count of second-degree kidnapping.
Aivyn N. Parker, born in 1997, of Jasper, Arkansas, was charged with one felony count of second-degree kidnapping and a misdemeanor count of fourth-degree assault.
According to court documents, the victim and driver of a 2015 Chevrolet Cruze traveled to help Parker, Patton, and a person listed as “Witness 1” with a flat tire in Hollister on March 25. The victim said that when he arrived, he realized he could not help them.
Patton then allegedly told the victim that he either had to drive them to Harrison, Arkansas, or he was going to beat him up and take his Chevrolet. In the car, Parker allegedly struck the victim three times in the back of the head and threatened to continue assaulting him.
The victim was able to text his girlfriend “an S.O.S.” for help, telling her that he had been taken and asking her to call 911. The girlfriend was able to track the vehicle’s movements through the victim’s phone.
The vehicle was traveling south on U.S. Highway 65 from Branson Landing Boulevard. At the intersection of U.S. 65 and State Highway 265, a Hollister Police Department officer made a traffic stop on the vehicle. As an officer approached, they saw a man in the front passenger seat mouth the words “Help me.” The man, later identified as the victim, was asked to step out of the vehicle and walk toward another officer.
Parker was arrested for an active warrant from Greene County for domestic assault. Patton was also arrested, and both were taken to the Taney County Jail, where they were still held without bond at the time of this writing. Neither has been scheduled for a court appearance.