Carthage man arrested on felony DWI, auto theft charges in Cooper County

Two months after being placed on probation for calling in a bomb threat to Webb City High School, Robert Lee Ritter, 42, Carthage, has been charged with felony driving while intoxicated and tampering with a motor vehicle following a Highway Patrol traffic stop in Cooper County.

Online Highway Patrol records indicate Ritter, who was stopped at 12:45 p.m. Monday, also faces charges of careless and imprudent driving and felony driving while revoked.

His passenger, Kelly M. Daniels, 42, Carthage, was charged with a felony Probation and Parole warrant for a parole violation and for second degree tampering with a motor vehicle.

Judge David Mouton sentenced Ritter to four years in prison and then placed him on supervised probation for five years March 25 after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of making a false bomb report.








According to the probable cause statement in that case, Ritter called in the bomb threat in an unsuccessful effort to keep a friend from receiving a traffic ticket. Ritter was a passenger in the car.

A felony assault charge that had been filed earlier in connection with Ritter's alleged stalking of a Carthage woman was also dismissed.

The probable cause statement from that case indicated the Carthage Police Department arrested Ritter after he allegedly entered the apartment of a Carthage woman without permission in June 2018 and threatened to "bash in the woman's skull."

Ritter knew the woman from work and was interested in having a relationship with her, according to the probable cause statement. Despite the woman telling Ritter she was not interested, he called her 20 times leaving voice messages, leading her to block him on the phone and from all social media.