Kowerduck pleads guilty to statutory sodomy for abuse of underage girl, sentenced to 7 years

Jeremiah Kowerduck, 35, of Springfield, appeared before Circuit Judge Craig Carter April 3 and pleaded guilty pursuant to a plea agreement to an amended charge of second-degree statutory sodomy of a person younger than 17 and was sentenced to 7 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections. The sentence is to run concurrently with any other sentences he currently has. He will get credit for the 379 days in jail he has already served. As part of the agreement, an additional domestic violence case was dismissed. 

An Ozark County grand jury originally indicted him on charges of statutory sodomy and first-degree child molestation of a child younger than 12 on May 18, 2022. 

According to the probable cause statement prepared by Ozark County Sheriff Cass Martin, the sheriff was approached by a woman on March 10, 2022, while he was at the Gainesville Subway restaurant. The woman reportedly said that she’d like to discuss sexual abuse allegations involving her daughter and Kowerduck. 

Through the investigation and information gathering procedure, the sheriff found that an interviewer at the Springfield Child Advocacy Center spoke with the girl about the allegations on Feb. 14, 2018. The girl reportedly told the investigator at that time that on a weekly basis Kowerduck entered her room and sexually abused her. The complaint in the case indicates the acts were alleged to have occurred sometime between 2008 and 2015. The girl originally said she thought the abuse began when she was 10.