A judge decided a 59-year-old Joplin man was guilty of violating the state’s sex offender registration law at the conclusion of a bench trial Tuesday in Jasper County Circuit Court.
Circuit Court Judge Dean Dankelson ruled that convicted sex offender Stephen J. Engleman had failed to register with the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office when he moved to Joplin in late December 2021.
Engleman was convicted in 1991 of assault with intent to commit rape of a 45-year-old woman in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and is required by law to register with the sheriff’s office in any county in Missouri in which he resides.
A probable-cause affidavit filed in the case states that Joplin police arrested the defendant for public intoxication Jan. 8, 2022, and found that he had moved back to Missouri about a month prior, initially going to Jane and then to Neosho and Joplin.
His status as a convicted sex offender was discovered upon his arrest, and further investigation determined that he had failed to register his change of residence with the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department.
The judge revoked Engleman’s bond after a finding of guilt and set a new bond of $50,000 pending a sentencing hearing Jan. 17.