Man faces his second charge of kidnapping

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Accused kidnapper and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Dean Shelton has been charged with kidnapping another Butler County girl at knife point.

Shelton allegedly kidnapped a 10-year-old Qulin, Mo., girl at knife point during the early morning hours of Oct. 20, and took her to Ripley County, where he has been charged with molesting her.

He also is accused of kidnapping a 5-year-old girl Oct. 24, from her Wood Street home in Poplar Bluff. He faces charges of first-degree burglary, second-degree domestic assault and felonious restraint in Butler County in that case, in which he allegedly assaulted and restrained his girlfriend when she allegedly found the girl in Shelton's Lela Street home. The investigation led authorities to Ripley County, where Shelton is accused of assaulting his girlfriend's father, Curtis Whitlock, after he allegedly found Shelton with the girl from Poplar Bluff in his trailer.

Butler County Prosecuting Attorney Kevin Barbour filed an amended complaint Wednesday in the case of the 10-year-old girl, adding child kidnapping and the unclassified felony of armed criminal action to the case against Shelton, who is being held without bond.

Authorities believe Shelton also took the Qulin girl to a trailer on Whitlock's property in Fairdealing, Mo.

Although the Qulin girl's abduction was reported to the Butler County Sheriff's Department the same day she was taken, authorities had no leads until she identified Shelton as her alleged abductor from photographs.

The Qulin girl, according to Butler County investigator Wes Popp's probable cause statement, was in the yard of her residence at about 4 p.m. Oct. 20 when a white male tricked her into getting in his truck. Popp said, Shelton allegedly transported the girl to a residence in Ripley County, where "she was sexually assaulted by Shelton."

Shelton has been charged with first-degree child molestation and armed criminal action in Ripley County for his alleged actions.

Federal authorities charged Shelton on Thursday with three counts of production and possession of child pornography. Several sexually explicit photographs, Popp said, were found on Shelton's cellphone after his Oct. 24 arrest. The photos were of an unidentified girl, later identified as the 10-year-old from Qulin.

No date has been set for Shelton to appear in Ripley County Circuit Court.

Shelton was to appear Thursday afternoon before Associate Circuit Judge John Bloodworth for a preliminary hearing on the original Butler County charges, but he did not. Instead, arraignment was waived on the new charges and a not-guilty plea entered.

Shelton's preliminary hearing was set for 1 p.m. Dec. 13.

Pertinent address:

Fairdealing, MO

Qulin, MO

Poplar Bluff, MO