Man charged with stalking, violating protection order
Michael M. Mason, 41, of West Plains, is being held in the Ozark County Jail without bond in connection with two newly filed cases in which he is charged with stalking and violating an ex-parte order of protection for an adult victim.
The ex-parte order, sometimes called a restraining order, is issued by a judge as a temporary order in an emergency situation in which a person’s safety is in question. The order generally orders a person to refrain from being near or contacting another person. The order of protection against Mason was filed in Howell County.
Mason was arrested May 11 and appeared before Associate Judge Raymond Gross on May 24 by video to be arraigned on the charge of violating the order of protection. He submitted a not guilty plea and said he would retain an attorney.
Persistent offender
Mason is being charged as a persistent offender, which causes him to be sentenced to a longer prison sentence if convicted. The persistent offender status is based on Mason’s prior convictions, including a 1998 conviction of robbery and a 1999 conviction of theft, both in Maricopa County, Arizona. He was also convicted of aggravated assault in Johnson County, Kansas, in 2014.
Details of the case
The probable cause statement in the stalking case, prepared by Ozark County Sheriff’s Deputy Justin Brown, says that while transporting Mason to the Ozark County Jail on May 11, he told Mason that he was charged with stalking and explained the allegations against him.
Court documents say that Mason is accused of “placing repeated telephone calls to [a] Confidential Victim and sending repeated text messages to [a] Confidential Victim in violation of a Protective Order… [causing] a reasonable person under the circumstances to be frightened, intimidated or emotionally distressed, and made a threat communicated with the intent to cause Confidential Victim, who was the target of the threat, to reasonably fear for his or her safety, and the threat was against the life of or to cause physical injury to Confidential Victim.”
“While talking to him, he [Mason] advised he did not agree with the charge and when he got out he would make sure the charge fit the crime, and he would take care of it,” Brown wrote in his report. “I believed this to be a threat to the victim in the matter he was arrested for.”
After Brown returned to the sheriff’s department he received an email from the victim showing a video of a string of messages between Mason and Mason’s daughter that reportedly indicated Mason planned to kill the victim and Mason’s brother because Mason believed they were having an affair. Among the messages between Mason and the victim was a photo of the victim of a sexual nature.
“Upon talking with the victim, she advised the picture was of her and Mason took it from her phone. Mason sent the picture to the victim, violating the court order and trying to get her to meet with him to what she believed to be to hurt her.”
Brown wrote in the report that he thought Mason posed a danger to the victim because “the victim applied and received ex-parte due to being beat by Mason and has since left him. She has stated to me she fears for her safety if he is not in custody or [is] allowed to continue contacting her. Mason has now made a viable threat to harm and possibly kill the victim,” he wrote.