By Jeff Lehr
jlehr@joplinglobe.com
PINEVILLE, Mo. — The charges are mounting against a former reserve deputy with the McDonald County Sheriff’s Department who is accused of having sexual relations with underage girls from Noel.
Two more charges of statutory rape and statutory sodomy were filed Wednesday against Casey J. Nanez, 27, in an investigation by the Sheriff’s Department.
McDonald County Prosecutor Janice Durbin said the new charges concern a 16-year-old girl from Noel. Nanez allegedly had sexual contact with the girl on several occasions between December and June, according to a probable-cause affidavit.
Nanez was arrested June 10 in connection with alleged sexual relations with a 15-year-old girl from Noel between July and November of last year. He was charged then with statutory rape, statutory sodomy, misdemeanor child molestation and tampering with a witness.
His reserve status with the Sheriff’s Department was terminated.
Nanez has remained in custody since that time on $35,000 bond, Sheriff Robert Evenson said. He was transferred over the weekend to the Barry County Jail in Cassville because of problems with keeping the former law officer segregated from the general population at the jail in Pineville, Evenson said.
The sheriff said the investigation into Nanez’s alleged involvement with underage girls in Noel remains active, with still more charges possible.
“We’re still doing interviews with witnesses, victims and potential victims,” Evenson said.
For that reason, few details about the investigation have been released, the sheriff said. But he confirmed that Nanez worked at the McDonald County Jail under the previous sheriff until he took a job as deputy town marshal in Noel under then-Marshal Ozzie Amos.
After Amos lost a re-election bid in April, Nanez was fired by the town’s council. Evenson said he then took Nanez back as a reserve deputy to allow him to keep his law-officer licensing.
Nanez’s alleged involvement with underage girls did not come to light until recently and was not the reason for his dismissal by the Noel town council, the sheriff said.
The sheriff said the 15-year-old girl is the alleged victim in the misdemeanor molestation charge. He said Nanez was working at a cafe in Noel on June 3 and allegedly rubbed the girl’s buttocks through her clothing. His alleged sexual relations with her had taken place the previous year.
The misdemeanor charge of tampering with a witness involves the 16-year-old girl’s mother. Nanez allegedly approached the girl’s mother before his arrest and asked her if she had filed a complaint against him for allegedly having sex with her daughter. He allegedly told her that she should tell investigators “a different story that he and the victims had already agreed on,” according to a probable-cause affidavit.
Federal interest
Sheriff Robert Evenson said Wednesday that the FBI may have an interest in the investigation of Casey Nanez. The sheriff said he had spoken with an FBI agent about the case.
“But I don’t know that they’re involved as yet,” Evenson said.
He declined to comment on what the federal agency’s interest might be.
