Man sought in sodomy case

A Madison County man has been charged with statutory sodomy from an incident that allegedly occurred in 2015.

Joseph St. Clair, 25, of Madison County, has been charged with the unclassified felony of statutory sodomy in the first degree. St. Clair is currently wanted by authorities. Anyone who knows his whereabouts should contact the Madison County Sheriff’s Office at 573-783-2234 or Madison County Dispatch at 573-783-2192.

St. Clair’s bond is set at $50,000 cash only.

According to a probable cause statement, the department was contacted on Dec. 1 by a woman in reference to her child allegedly being molested in March of 2015.

The woman reported that the incident occurred on March 9, 2015 at a Madison County home. The woman stated that she and her son were staying in the home at the time of the incident. The report states that the child disclosed that St. Clair had touched him inappropriately and performed sex acts on him.

The report states that the woman had the child examined at Children’s Hospital and sexual abuse had been confirmed by physicians. According to the woman’s statement she had reported the incident to the Madison County Sheriff’s Office at the time it occurred, however, no charges had been filed.

According to the probable cause statement, the woman reported that on a later date she was contacted by the Madison County sheriff at that time, who reportedly asked her to come by the sheriff’s office.

In this latest report it states she met with the sheriff and two deputies and was pressed to write a statement on a former acquaintance of hers, with the then-sheriff indicating her cooperation in writing the statement about the other individual could play a part in whether or not the department sought charges on St. Clair in her child’s case.

According to the report, the woman stated that the DFS worker who was assigned to the case had contacted the sheriff’s office for a copy of the report and was told there were no statements or reports in reference to such a matter.

The woman reported that she attempted to contact the sheriff’s office many times, but no one would return her calls or talk to her.

According to the report, Lunsford contacted the Child Advocacy Center and discovered a forensic interview had been conducted on April 17, 2015. The detective requested a copy of the interview video.

The report states that after reviewing the video, received on Dec. 12, Lunsford searched the database and found no reports involving this case. The report and documentation were then forwarded to the prosecutor to file formal charges.

St. Clair

Matt McFarland is a reporter for the Daily Journal. He can be reached at 573-518-3616, or at mmcfarland@dailyjournalonline.com.