Dupont: I'm not shady

Former Anderson Guest House owner Robert Dupont, in a series of interviews that included sitdowns with the Joplin Globe and KOAM, also told Marcus Kabel of the Associated Press that he is an upstanding citizen and has been wronged by the media since the Nov. 27 fire in which 11 were killed at the Anderson facility:

"The media reports, all these things, they make me out as some kind of shady character," DuPont said at the offices of Joplin River of Life Ministries, the private group that operated Anderson Guest House. "I don't think I'm shady. Anyone who knows me would say I have nothing but compassion for the mentally ill."

Dupont also insists he was not guilty of the federal fraud charge...to which he pleaded guilty:

DuPont contends he pleaded guilty to Medicare fraud only because federal prosecutors offered to drop related charges against his daughter, who was then convicted on one felony count of submitting inflated claims to Medicare for patient care at home.