Joplin man waives hearing in child sexual abuse case

May 3—A 32-year-old Joplin man waived a preliminary hearing this week on charges that he sexually abused a 12-year-old girl.

Cody J.A. Shively waived the hearing Thursday in Jasper County Circuit Court on counts of statutory sodomy and third-degree child molestation. His initial appearance in a trial division of the court was set for May 15.

Joplin police were notified Dec. 15 that an underage girl had reported being sexually assaulted by Shively in November.

In an interview five days later at the Children's Center in Joplin, she testified that Shively stayed at her home in an intoxicated state one night when she woke up to find him standing over her bed. She said he proceeded to touch her inappropriately for about a half-hour to an hour.

Shively purportedly admitted to police that he had been in the alleged victim's home to speak to her mother and had some interactions with the girl and a sibling. But he maintained that he was "too drunk to remember" much else that happened that night, according to a probable-cause affidavit.