Seneca man pleads down to misdemeanor in child abuse case

Jul. 3--NEOSHO, Mo. -- A Seneca man pleaded guilty this week to a misdemeanor count of child endangerment in a plea deal dismissing two related felony counts of child abuse and was ordered to serve two days of shock time in jail.

Gavin Bowman, 31, pleaded guilty Monday in Newton County Circuit Court to the misdemeanor offense. His plea deal dismissed a second misdemeanor count of child endangerment as well as the two counts of abuse, all stemming from a 2019 investigation of incidents in the residence where he lived with his girlfriend and her two children.

A probable-cause affidavit filed with the abuse counts alleged that the children claimed Bowman regularly spit chewing tobacco in their faces and called them derogatory names. He would hit their mother and slap them in the face if they tried to intervene, according to the affidavit.

The children also alleged that he would administer whippings and spankings with a belt and paddle, leaving marks or splinters on their bottoms and would lock them in their rooms sometimes while he and their mother left the house.

Associate Judge Christine Rhoades accepted the plea deal and sentenced Bowman to one year in jail with execution of the sentence suspended and the defendant placed on supervised probation for two years. The judge further ordered that he serve two days of shock time in jail and have no further contact with the children in the case.

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