Left to right: Shawna Ross, Harold Blair and Robert Atherton (Photos courtesy of Douglas County Sheriff’s Office
An Ava woman became the second of three individuals to be sentenced for sex crimes in Douglas County. Forty-nine-year-old Shawna Ross will serve 28 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections for sexual trafficking of a child under the age of 18.
According to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Ross received her sentence Feb. 6 by Circuit Judge Craig Carter. Her charges stem from an investigation by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, the Ava Police Department, the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Tasks Force and the Department of Homeland Security.
Sixty-six-year-old Harold Blair of Ava and 56-year-old Robert Atherton of Westerville, Ohio, were also arrested and charged. Atherton pled guilty to statutory sodomy on a child under the age of 12 on Oct. 17 and was sentenced to 30 years in the Department of Corrections. Blair pled guilty recently in federal court to multiple counts of possession of child pornography and is currently awaiting sentencing.
Blair and Ross were arrested nearly a year ago. They had been living outside of Ava on Missouri Route FF. Sheriff Chris Degase says Ross may have been able to stay in a shed on Blair’s property, for free. He also stated the crime was not considered a human trafficking ring in Douglas County, but it came close. Atherton’s arrest also came last February in the area of Columbus, Ohio.
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