Judge gives Stamm probation after Alford plea

FARMINGTON — A Farmington man who filed a lawsuit against Presiding Circuit Court Judge Kenneth W. Pratte has pleaded guilty to a charge of child molestation.

On Friday, Circuit Court Judge Bernhardt C. Drumm followed the plea agreement and placed 32-year-old Robert Stamm Jr. on five years of supervised probation.

Stamm entered an Alford plea to the charge. By entering an Alford plea, he did not admit to any element of the charge, but recognized there was sufficient evidence for trial. Another charge was dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

Stamm will have to register as a sex offender and complete a sex offender counseling program. If he violates his probation, he could be sentenced up to 10  years in prison.

Special Prosecuting Attorney Tim Inman told Judge Drumm that the charges were filed in St. Francois County after a child told police in 2006 Stamm touched her inappropriately between 2002 and 2003 while she was sleeping.

He said Stamm admitted to a police officer that he touched the girl.

Stamm will have three days to register with the sheriff’s department as a sex offender.

In April, Stamm and his father, Robert Stamm Sr. filed a lawsuit against Judge Pratte and Circuit Marshal Phill Horn.

The lawsuit claimed Stamm Jr., who was already charged with statutory sodomy and child molestation, and his father, were damaged by being “coerced” by Judge Pratte and Horn to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of the judge’s law days.

In July, Drumm dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice and ordered that court costs be taxed against the Stamms.

After the lawsuit was filed, Drumm was assigned as judge and Inman was assigned as special prosecutor in the criminal case due to conflicts of interest.

Teresa Ressel is a reporter for the Daily Journal and can be reached at 573-431-2010, ext. 179 or at tressel@dailyjournalonline.com.