Advance man faces multiple felonies after stand off

ADVANCE — An Advance man was charged Thursday afternoon with multiple felonies after he allegedly assaulted his mother and then barricaded himself inside her home for more than five hours.

Preston Wade Simpson was arrested after tear gas was deployed into his mother’s Benton Street home at about 11:50 p.m. Wednesday.

The 39-year-old subsequently was charged with the Class D felonies of second-degree domestic assault and unlawful possession of firearm and the Class D felonies of unlawful use of a weapon and resisting/interfering with an arrest.

In setting Simpson’s bond at $75,000 cash only, Associate Circuit Judge Joe Satterfield found reasonable cause to believe Simpson “is a danger to the crime victim, the community or another person.”

Authorities responded at about 6:20 p.m. to a 911 call from an Advance woman, who reported “her son had just attacked her, causing a head injury,” Advance Police Patrolman Austin Kight wrote in his probable-cause affidavit.

The woman, Kight said, further reported her son had a firearm in the residence, and “he had just been released from Poplar Bluff Regional Hospital(‘s) mental health floor.”

Stoddard County Sheriff Carl Hefner described Simpson as someone authorities have dealt with in the past.

“He’s been in and out of trouble,” the sheriff said.

While at his mother’s home, “he and his mother got into an argument,” Hefner said. “He has a short fuse, and he assaulted her.”

Hefner said the woman had a laceration on the side of her head.

“He choked her; she didn’t know what he hit her with,” Hefner said.

Once his mother got out, “he barricaded himself inside,” Hefner said. “There was a gun inside the house,” which he found.

Responding to the scene reportedly were numerous officers with the Advance Police Department, Stoddard County Sheriff’s Department and Missouri State Highway Patrol. Emergency-medical-services personnel and firefighters also responded to stand by at the scene.

A perimeter was set up outside of the home.

“He wouldn’t talk to us or anything,” Hefner explained. “He started shooting the gun inside the house and made the statement that if anybody tries to come in, he’ll try to kill them.

“He’s anti law enforcement, things of that nature.”

A highway patrol negotiator responded and a phone system was set up, “where we could talk to him,” said Hefner, who estimated negotiations went on for four to five hours “with no luck.”

The suspect, he said, would hang up or talk a bit and then hang up.

“He made a few demands that were unreasonable, wanting alcoholic beverages and things of that nature,” Hefner said.

As the standoff continued, Hefner said, Sikeston’s SWAT team responded to assist.

Negotiations “went flat, dead actually,” he said. “We heard nothing out of him for two hours. Occasionally, he fired the weapon inside” the house.

The decision, the sheriff said, was made to “shoot some tear gas into the house, then the SWAT team made entrance into the house.”

Hefner said his department has used Sikeston’s SWAT team before.

“Man, those guys are awesome; they are professional,” Hefner said. “Those guys know what they are doing.

“We were very fortunate to have them respond to assist us, as well as the highway patrol.”

A small caliber, semiautomatic handgun was seized from the home, said Hefner, who estimated between 10 and 11 rounds had been fired from the weapon.

One of Simpson’s charges alleges he knowingly possessed the handgun, and at the time he did so, he was a convicted felon.

Kight said Simpson has a “history of criminal action, including, but not limited to, rape, stealing, child molestation and failure to register as a sex offender. Mr. Simpson also has a history of mental-health issues.”

At the time of his arrest, Simpson was out on bond in his failure to register as a sex offender case.

Docket entries on Casenet show Simpson had pleaded guilty to that offense in October 2015 and sentenced to six years in the Missouri Department of Corrections, with suspended execution of his sentence. He was placed on a three-year period of supervised probation.

In August 2016, Simpson’s probation was revoked and he was ordered to serve his six-year sentence.

In February 2017, Simpson filed a civil post-conviction relief motion seeking to set aside his conviction and sentence due to ineffective plea/trial counsel.

Two years later, in February 2019, Presiding Circuit Judge Robert Mayer granted Simpson’s motion.

After the state reported it was going to continue with the case against Simpson, Mayer set a $5,000 bond in Simpson’s case.

Simpson reportedly was released after posting $500.

Last week, Simpson’s public defender filed a motion for a competency examination to be performed on her client. That motion is pending at this time.

After Simpson’s arrest, Casenet says, Mayer found “probable cause to believe (Simpson) has violated the terms of his bond” and issued a no-bond warrant