Joplin man granted suspended sentence in weapon case

A Joplin man received a suspended sentence Friday in Jasper County Circuit Court on a conviction for possession of an illegal weapon.

Paul D. Simon, 35, pleaded guilty to the charge in July in a plea agreement with the Jasper County prosecutor’s office that limited the prison time he might receive to no more than five years.

Circuit Judge David Mouton accepted the plea agreement at Simon’s sentencing hearing Friday and assessed the defendant seven years in prison, with execution of the sentence suspended. The judge instead placed Simon on supervised probation for five years.

According to police and court records, Simon was arrested on the charge Sept. 23 of last year when he came out onto the porch of his home at 1727 S. Connor Ave. with a loaded, sawed-off shotgun and threatened to shoot another person’s vehicle. A probable-cause affidavit states that the barrel of the shotgun was less than 18 inches long, in violation of state law, and that Simon was a convicted felon at the time of the offense.