Woman pleads guilty by Alford plea, sentenced to SIS, probation for violating condition of sex offender registry

Tiffany Bauer pleaded guilty by Alford plea to violating a condition of lifetime supervision as a registered sex offender. The Alford plea means that she does not necessarily agree that she committed a crime, but she believes that the evidence against her would convince a jury to find her guilty. She was given an SIS (suspended imposition of sentence) and placed on supervised probation for 5 years, as well as other standard sentencing conditions. 

Bauer was indicted by an Ozark County grand jury on the violation charge for reportedly entering Lutie School for a ballgame in 2022. Based on a 2020 conviction of first-degree statutory sodomy of a child (age 9), Bauer is subject to GPS monitoring and lifetime supervision. 

According to the probable cause statement filed in the case by the Missouri Department of Corrections Board of Probation and Parole officer Angel Vandeloecht, Bauer entered the Lutie school around 5 p.m. April 5, 2022, to attend a basketball game. The superintendent of the school reportedly confronted Bauer concerning her presence at the school and notified law enforcement. 

Local law enforcement called the Department of Probation and Parol and asked if Bauer had permission to attend the game at the school. 

The P&P officer said that she did not have a letter on file from the school granting permission for the 2022-23 school year, a legal requirement of her sex offender status. 

Bauer left the school within an hour and reportedly called her probation and parole officer that night and requested information about attending the game. The call was made after hours on the officer’s phone. He didn’t answer, and she left a voicemail. The P&P officer reportedly called back the next day, and he and Bauer spoke. 

“Bauer called this officer stating she was at [the] school yesterday and was wanting to know what she needs to do to obtain permission to be at the school. This officer explained to Bauer that she previously had permission from Lutie School for the 2020-2021 school year only. If requesting to attend an event during that school year, Bauer is required to send a letter to the school 24 hours before the event to obtain approval and go to the office entrance only when at the school. This officer explained to Bauer that she does not have permission for this school year, and an approval letter from the school must be sent to this officer stating Bauer is approved. This officer reminded Bauer that if approved, she must follow the school’s guidelines as listed in the approval letter,” the document says. 

Tiffany and husband David Bauer were each convicted in 2020 of sexually abusing a girl. David Bauer was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the offense, and Tiffany Bauer was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The case was tried before Associate Judge Elizabeth Bock. Although those sentences were enacted, many inmates are released on parole early. The case came to light in April 2015 after the Missouri Division of Children’s Services received a hotline call alleging educational neglect for a girl who had lived with the Bauers from August 2014 to March 2015 when she was 8 years old. The hotline call, received shortly after the girl moved to Branson to live with her father, alleged that she had forgone public school or homeschooling during the time she lived with the Bauers in Theodosia. When a children’s service worker went to a Branson-area school to speak with the girl about the lack of schooling, she reportedly told the worker she had been sexually abused. 

Former Ozark County Chief Deputy Winston Collins testified at the trial that the Bauers were fully cooperative with law enforcement during the course of the investigation. Both David and Tiffany adamantly denied all allegations and said they believed the child was coached by the girlfriend of the girl’s father to report the allegations.