Photo: Jesse Osterkamp
An Ozark County man, Jesse Osterkamp of Bakersfield, has pled guilty to the theft of an ATV and sentenced to four years in prison.
The Ozark County Times reports Osterkamp’s plea came earlier this month before Circuit Judge Craig Carter.
Osterkamp’s sentence is to run concurrently, or at the same time, as any other criminal cases he has in Howell County. As part of the agreement, two other stealing cases were dismissed.
According to the probable cause statement filed in one Ozark County case, an officer was dispatched to a home on Missouri Highway O in Bakersfield on the afternoon of March 10. The homeowner reportedly told the officer she had arrived at her farm that morning and found the gate that sits at the end of her long driveway open.
The woman said she was immediately suspicious, because she always closes the gate. Thinking she may have forgotten to close the gate that morning, she made her way down the drive and to a barn on the property.
While completing her usual farm chores, she realized her ATV was missing. She described the four-wheeler with an attached 15-gallon sprayer and valued about $1,600 to the officer. While she and the deputy looked inside the barn, they found two ratchet straps, a 12-volt battery and two locks were also missing.
Three weeks later, on April 3, Ozark County Sheriff Cass Martin, Sgt. Justin Brown and Deputy Seth Miller went to Osterkamp’s residence. Miller found a green four-wheeler matching the description of the missing one in the back yard. The VIN number matched that of the missing ATV.
Osterkamp was charged in another case of felony-level stealing in Ozark County in connection with the alleged theft of a utility trailer in July 2019.
Osterkamp was charged as a prior and persistent offender in the newer stealing case, due to his past Ozark County convictions including a March 5, 2014 case in which he was convicted of stealing and a July 5, 2017, case in which he pleaded guilty to non-support of a child.
He’s also been convicted of these charges:
2004 — Howell County conviction of unlawful use of drug paraphernalia;
2012 — conviction of fraudulent use of a credit or debit card; and
2015 — Ozark County conviction of unlawful use of drug paraphernalia.
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