Udall man sentenced on child molestation charge

Danny Joe Williams, 59, of Udall was sentenced on Oct. 4 to 12 years in the Missouri Depart-ment of Corrections after he pleaded guilty to first-degree child molestation, a class B felony, in Wright County Court before Circuit Judge Craig Carter. The case was transferred from Ozark County in December 2016  on a change of venue motion. The 12-year prison sentence is toward the upper end of the allowable 5- to 15-year sentencing range for a class B felony in Missouri. 

Ozark County Prosecuting Attorney John Garrabrant represented the state, and Springfield-area defense attorney Ryan Reynolds represented Williams. 

Williams will have to complete the Missouri Sex Offender Program before he is eligible for parole, and he will have to register as a sex offender.

Williams was originally charged with statutory sodomy of a child in 2016 after a woman met with Ozark County Chief Deputy Winston Collins on Jan. 26, 2016, in the sheriff’s office and told the officer her 7-year-old child had told her that Williams had touched her genital area on multiple occasions when he babysat the child.