Sex offender cuts off ankle monitor, flees

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Authorities are looking for a convicted sex offender who allegedly fled from supervision last week when he cut off his electronic ankle monitor while attending a doctor's appointment in Poplar Bluff.

Authorities say John L. Squires, 55, should be considered a sexual predator with violent tendencies.

About 2:15 p.m., probation and parole officer Teresa Clark contacted Poplar Bluff Police to report Squires had absconded.

A resident of the 400 block of North Main Street at the time of his July hearing, Squires pleaded guilty to first-degree statutory sodomy and attempted first-degree statutory sodomy in Christian County, both of which are felonies.

After entering his plea, Squires went to the Poplar Bluff Community Supervision Center, where he was "developing a home plan" to leave the center on probation, said a probation and parole official.

Clark reported Squires was allowed to leave the center at 9 a.m. Wednesday to go to the doctor at Poplar Bluff Medical Partners, according to a report. He wore an ankle monitor that later was discovered in the bushes near the parking lot.

"The ankle bracelet was retrieved and observed to have been cut," the police report states.

Squires is described as 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighing 150 pounds. He has gray/brown hair and blue eyes.

Squires, who had been indicted by a grand jury in Christian County, was sentenced to two 10-year sentences in the Missouri Department of Corrections, according to online court records. The court suspended the execution of Squires' sentences and placed him on five years of supervised probation.

Anyone with information regarding Squires' whereabouts is asked to call Poplar Bluff police at 573-785-5776 or the nearest law enforcement agency.