Region briefs 11/07/02

Sexual abuse charge made against councilmanA Delta City Council member faces allegations of molesting a disabled man, investigators said.

Roger D. Moore, 39, was charged Oct. 7 by Cape Girardeau County assistant prosecuting attorney Angel Woodruff with a class A misdemeanor of sexual misconduct.

According to a warrant, Moore subjected the victim to unspecified sexual contact without consent on Sept. 22 in Cape Girardeau County.

Moore posted a $7,500 surety bond, with conditions placed by the court that he remain at least 500 feet away from the alleged victim.

He appeared in associate circuit court on Oct. 10 with his attorney James Hahn to be arraigned and enter a plea of not guilty.

Attempts to contact Moore late Wednesday for comment were unsuccessful.

Cape planning and zoning approves Marquette planThe Cape Girardeau Planning and Zoning Commission has given first-round approval to the Marquette Hotel's redevelopment plan that calls for transforming the condemned and blighted building into posh state office space and new retail and commercial shops.

At a special meeting held Wednesday night, the commissioners voted unanimously after hearing from Fred Lafser, a consultant who represents Prost Builders, which bought the 74-year-old building earlier this year for $350,000.

Though it was a public hearing, no one from the public spoke.

More than 100 state employees will move into the building in 10-12 months, Lafser said, when the $8 million renovations are complete. The redevelopment plan calls for historically restoring the first floor and mezzanine area and the top three floors to be converted to office space. When finished, the building will include retail shops.

The matter is expected to go before the city council as soon as later this month.

Blood found in area where boy was last seen

RICHWOODS, Mo. -- One month to the day after 11-year-old Shawn Hornbeck vanished from this rural community southwest of St. Louis, a woman came forward Wednesday with "credible" information that he may have been struck by a motorist who then tried to destroy the evidence, the boy's stepfather said.

The new information was so compelling that Shawn's stepfather, Craig Akers, said he and 10 volunteers from the family's command post began immediately searching the area she identified, a quarter mile from where Shawn was last seen.

They discovered what appeared to be human remains -- possibly intestines -- 10 feet from grass sprinkled with blood, Akers said.

The searchers also found two pairs of brown gloves, one turned inside out, the other 20 feet away, and a plastic one-gallon milk jug.

The informant said the perpetrator had gone to a house to fill containers with water to rinse away bloodstains, Akers said.

Akers said he notified the Washington County Sheriff's Department, which in turn, contacted the FBI, whose evidence collector took samples late Wednesday to perform laboratory tests. Results could be ready later today, authorities said.

-- From staff, wire reports