MO Repo Man Pleads Guilty to Assault Charges

Joplin, MO – 7 August 2018 – A Missouri repossessor accused of striking another man’s leg with one of two vehicles the other man was attempting to repossess accepted a plea offer Monday and was placed on probation.

Steven P. Hitchcock, 36, entered an Alford plea in Jasper County Circuit Court to a misdemeanor count of assault in a plea agreement calling for a suspended imposition of sentence. An Alford plea admits no guilt but acknowledges the probability of a conviction if the matter were to proceed to trial.

Circuit Judge Dean Dankelson accepted the plea deal and granted the suspended imposition of sentence with two years of supervised probation and the requirement that Hitchcock complete either a year of monthly counseling sessions or an anger management course offered through Ozark Center.

Hitchcock struck Frankie Farmer with the front of a Jaguar S-Type on Sept. 25 as Farmer and two others from Busted Knuckle Auto were attempting to repossess the Jaguar and a Lincoln Navigator outside Hitchcock’s home on East Seventh Street in Carthage.

A probable-cause affidavit states that Farmer placed himself in front of the Jaguar when Hitchcock tried to leave in it and the defendant hit him with the car.

Source: The Joplin Globe