WEBSTER COUNTY, Mo. – The Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP) says they found 14 people in a U-Haul truck while conducting a traffic stop on I-44 Sunday afternoon.
According to MSHP Troop D Public Information Officer Mike McClure, state troopers stopped a white U-Haul box truck traveling east on I-44 about one mile west of Marshfield at 4:30 p.m. for a moving violation.
According to court documents, one of the adults told troopers that they were helping someone move from Glendale, Arizona to Buffalo, New York. Troopers then asked to search the U-Haul and the driver admitted there were “five adults and seven kids” in the truck. Troopers then placed the three people in the front of the U-Haul in handcuffs for a 24-hour hold in Webster County Jail.
After taking the U-Haul truck to Webster County Jail, law enforcement opened the back of the truck and found three women and seven minors aged 2-13 inside along with trash, clothes and food containers. The back of the truck did not have any power or air conditioning.
The Webster County Prosecutor’s Office has charged two men — identified as Shaikiem Bristol and Musa Omar — with seven counts of first-degree endangering the welfare of a child.
MSHP says there is no immigration element, but that everyone involved knew each other or is related.
