Shane Mullins, 31, of Cuba, was sentenced on Jan. 23 to three consecutive life sentences with the possibility of parole after 35 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections. Judge John D. Beger of the Phelps County 25th Judicial Circuit Court presided over the guilty plea.

Mullins was charged with an unclassified felony of statutory sodomy or attempted statutory sodomy-deviate sexual intercourse-with a person less than 12 years old, a first-degree unclassified felony statutory rape or attempted statutory rape with a person less than 14 years old and an unclassified felony statutory sodomy or attempted statutory sodomy-deviate sexual intercourse-with a person less than 14 years old.

He was arrested in June 2024 after an investigation by multiple entities, including the Phelps County Sheriff’s Detectives, Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) and the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department. He was held at Phelps County Jail with no possibility for bail.

Captain Derrick Dillon, with the Phelps County Sheriff’s Department, wrote the probable cause statement against Mullins.

Dillon responded to Phelps Health to report on a possible sexual assault of a 17-year-old girl who was extremely intoxicated. Her boyfriend was the one who found her at the Audubon Trail with Mullins, visibly intoxicated, with her pants and underwear down.

“She did not remember much, and she refused a sexual assault exam. She did report that Shane intoxicated her,” Dillon wrote. “During the course of this investigation, (redacted)’s younger sister, (redacted), age 14 (age 13 at the time of the incidents), disclosed that Shane Mullins inappropriately touched her.”

She reported two separate incidents when Mullins allegedly had provided her with alcohol and then physically touched her.

“She also disclosed that Shane knew her age, and he asked her multiple times not to say anything because he was already in enough trouble,” Dillon wrote.