Potosi man charged with 30 counts of child sex crimes

POTOSI, Mo. – A Potosi man has been charged by criminal complaint with 28 counts of first-degree statutory sodomy and two counts of second-degree child molestation.

Phillip A. Emily Jr., age 48, was charged by a 30-count felony complaint in the Associate Circuit Court of Washington County on April 12. In a separate case, he and 33-year-old Bobbie Ann Stotler, also from Potosi, had been arrested in February in connection with kidnapping their infant who allegedly tested positive for methamphetamine and was subsequently taken away.

The current complaint against Emily alleges that between July 8, 2021, and April 27, 2022, the defendant frequently perpetrated various sex acts on a single victim who was less than 12 years old. The allegations include various types of acts spanning across several different locations, but all including the same child as the victim.

“I cannot say this in strong enough terms: Children must be protected,” said Washington County Prosecuting Attorney John Jones. “My office will always prosecute credible allegations of child sex abuse to the fullest of our ability.”

The charges contained in the complaint are accusations and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Jones and First Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Caleb J. Aponte. It was investigated by the Washington County Sheriff’s Department.

Last February, authorities put Emily’s and Stotler’s infant back in the hands of family services nearly a month after the child was reported missing by family services workers. Police said the child’s mother left an area shelter with the infant after tests reportedly found meth in the baby’s system, and the mother’s parental rights were suspended.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office announced the child had been found safe, along with her parents, 48-year-old Phillip Anthony Emily and 33-year-old Bobbie Ann Stotler, both of Potosi.

“Emily and Stotler were taken into custody at a rural Washington County residence,” the sheriff’s office said. “A one-year-old missing juvenile was also located in the home. The juvenile was taken into the custody of the Missouri Division of Family Services.”

The sodomy case against Emily was filed shortly thereafter, after a 12-year-old child reported alleged instances of sexual contact.

During a forensic interview, the juvenile reportedly told investigators the sexual contact happened when she was 11, during the summer months before school had started. The child recalled Emily asking her to help him cut wood and said they left in his truck and traveled approximately a quarter mile from the man’s Potosi residence. She said it was there that Emily sexually assaulted her, according to the report.

The child reportedly told investigators that Emily had sodomized her on approximately 21 other occasions.

Phillip Anthony Emily