A trade unionist convicted of drugs, weapons and fleeing | Local News

According to the previous Missourian reporting, Franklin County Sheriff's deputies were conducting surveillance at 207 N. Oak St. in Union on September 6, 2023. They were looking for Carpenter, who had warrants out for his arrest for possession of a controlled substance. An officer observed Carpenter carrying a flat-screen television as he left the Oak Street residence and began walking toward the Oltmann Funeral Home and then south on Church Street.

Officers arrested Carpenter and searched him, finding a loaded Smith & Wesson .40 caliber handgun with one round in the chamber of his pocket. As a previously convicted felon, Carpenter is not legally allowed to possess a firearm.

Officers also seized two loaded .40 caliber magazines and 20 grams of “packets of methamphetamine” from Carpenter’s backpack.

Carpenter then attempted to flee from police custody, but was unable to escape.

Court records indicate Carpenter, born in 1981, is currently serving prison time for a separate charge in Franklin County. He pleaded guilty April 1 to one count of second-degree child endangerment, a misdemeanor, in connection with a 2021 incident in Washington.

Washington police received a call on September 3 of that year to the parking lot at 1910 E. Fifth St., where two people were reported to be “slumped over” in their vehicle. When first responders arrived, paramedics began treating the two people – Carpenter and Haley Kester – for apparent drug overdoses. Officers found drugs in the vehicle, including heroin and fentanyl.

Medical personnel then discovered a 4-week-old infant, Carpenter and Kester's child, covered by a blanket in a car seat.

“When medical personnel found the baby in the back seat of the vehicle, the vehicle's windows were rolled up and the vehicle was not operating,” Washington Police Department spokesman Lt. Detective Steve Sitzes.

Sitzes said the infant was treated at the scene and transported to Mercy Hospital in Washington by medical personnel. The infant showed signs of distress due to the heat.

Carpenter was sentenced to six months in prison for child endangerment, with credit for time already served. Kester pleaded guilty to a charge of first-degree child endangerment in 2022 and served a shock 110-day jail sentence.