Prosecutor's Office - Platte County Missouri

From: Platte County Prosecuting Attorney "Eric Zahnd" ezahnd@co.platte.mo.us

Date: May 15, 2008

Subject: Man pleads guilty to damaging Weston church

A Rushville man pled guilty to felony property damage May 15 for driving his vehicle into a Weston church. Daniel W. Singleton, 28, repeatedly struck the Weston Community Church of the Nazarene with his Jeep in mid-February.

Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said, “This sad case demonstrates the awful affects of alcohol abuse. Alcohol has been the catalyst every time this man has gotten into trouble, including the night he crashed his car into this church.

The church members have expressed their willingness to forgive him, but he will still have to be held accountable for his acts.”

According to Zahnd, sometime between 10:00 p.m. on February 16 and 7:00 a.m. February 17, Singleton repeatedly drove his 1992 Jeep Cherokee into the Weston Community Church of the Nazarene, damaging three sides of the building.
The damage to the church was approximately $15,000.

Daniel W. Singleton

On March 10, the Platte County Sheriff’s Department received a tip from the TIPS Hotline. Singleton’s Jeep Cherokee was located and revealed damage consistent with damaged vehicle parts left at the scene of the crash.

Deputies arrested Singleton and questioned him. Singleton admitted to the deputies that he broke up with his girlfriend on February 16, drank “at least a fifth of Jack Daniel’s whiskey,” and an unknown quantity of prescription hydrocodone pills.

Singleton told deputies he then started “driving around the back roads.” He remembered driving through some trees, striking a mailbox, and then hitting a beige-colored building. The church is a beige sheet metal building.

Singleton faces a maximum of four years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 17, 2008.

The case was investigated by the Platte County Sheriff’s Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant Prosecutor Chris Seufert and First Assistant Prosecutor Mark Gibson.

Eric G. Zahnd
Platte County Prosecuting Attorney
415 Third Street
Suite 60
Platte City, Missouri 64079
(816) 858-3476
(816) 858-3472 (fax)
ezahnd@co.platte.mo.us

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