This is five on your side at five
focused on you.
We start tonight with a disturbing case of child sex abuse in Jefferson County.
Investigators say
this man repeatedly abused a child for seven years
and there may be more victims out there.
Thank you for joining us. I'm in
and I'm Brent Solomon. Kelly Jackson has the night off.
The man wanted in that horrific child sex abuse case is now in custody.
But when you
is here in the studio with why police could use your help in this case. An
Exactly Benjamin Sexton Jr this man right here has been charged with the repeated
sexual assault of a child from May of 2016 to November of 2023.
Most of the accusations against him are just too disturbing to air on television.
But it's important we share this information with you
because prosecutors think there could be additional victims.
Police say this all started in May of 2016.
You can see the long list of charges against him right here.
Nine counts of statutory rape, sodomy, child molestation
and endangering the welfare of a child.
Prosecutors say the crime started when the child was
seven years old all the way until they were 14
in multiple locations in Jefferson County,
Franklin County and even a vacant home on this street in Saint Louis County.
Investigators say here, Benjamin Sexton
raped the child on a mattress inside of a home. He was renovating.
He's also accused of abusing the child at various hotel rooms across the area
over the past seven years.
The most recent incident, prosecutors say happened just last month,
Amy Robbins with the Child Advocacy Center in Wens
tells me while the conversation may be uncomfortable
discussing how to possibly prevent situations like this
is happening, is happening, is crucial.
When you talk with our kids,
we have to talk open and honestly and our advice is always
you talk about it early and you talk about it often.
So from the point that your kids can talk from the
point that they're going and and others have access to them,
you just talk about body safety and, and,
and understanding that they have the right to say no
to even hugs or kisses as we approach the holidays,
things like that.
Now Sexton is being held without bond.
Meanwhile, prosecutors and police say more victims could be out there.
Anyone who has information for police should call
the Jefferson County Sheriff's office Detective Bureau at
636797 5515. Such a disturbing case, Annie, thank you tonight.
Three men accused in a Saint Charles County
human trafficking case appeared in court today,
Venkatesh
Saru
Nikhil Puna
and Saran
Panka
are all seeking bond.
Prosecutors say they brutally beat a man from
India after bringing him here under a student visa
attorneys for the men argue they were only helping the
victim and that the accusations against them are a ploy.
I think that the reality is that he wants to be here in the United States.
He wants to be a citizen of the United States. How do you explain
the
all the broken bones that he received that were in various stages of healing?
How do you explain his back, his head, the bottom of his feet, his legs,
all three suspects said they will surrender their US
passports to show they are not a flight risk.
No decision made. Today.
The judge is taking this case under advisement now to
a developing story in the Dutch Town neighborhood in South
ST Louis where an 80 year old man was hit by a stray bullet that flew into his home.
Five in your sides. Robert Townsend is there live tonight with the latest Robert
and you know this happened around 730 last
night right across the street from Marquette Park.
You see back there
at this hour, it's still unclear where the bullet actually came from.
But police tell us they are confident it came from outside the victim's home.
The house where this happened is near the corner of Louisiana Avenue and Gascon
Street that's in the heart of the Dutch town community.
The police say the 80 year old victim was standing in
his kitchen when he suddenly felt pain in his right arm.
He started bleeding and realized he had been shot.
A police source tells five of your side,
the bullet came through the screened in back porch
and then through the back door of the home,
the 80 year old man was taken to a hospital in critical but stable condition.
Now, multiple police officers and detectives were out here last night
trying to find out who fired that bullet into that house.
Anyone with information should call crime stoppers at 866371 tips.
We're on top of this story trying to learn more for now though, live in South City.
I'm Robert Townsend five on your side. Thank you, Robert.
A man is in custody tonight.
After a domestic shooting in Belleville,
it happened this morning on Gatewood Court.
Police say a man shot a woman in the leg.
She then went to a nearby neighbor's home for help.
Authorities say the man locked himself inside
a home before surrendering to police.
About an hour later,
three people are dead after a crash in
ST Francis County that's southeast of Farmington.
It happened late Wednesday night.
This is on highway 221 in between highway 21 and 67.
The Missouri State Highway patrol says Bradley Shelton
drove into oncoming traffic hitting another car head on
Shelton and his passenger, Amanda Snyder both died.
The driver of the other car, Daniel Wills also died.
Let's get to our weather first forecast. Another,
I mean, mild is putting it mildly.
Right.
Did we hit 60 degrees? We did 63.
Go ahead. No, I was gonna say you're looking at some rain that could be headed out
finally. Not enough to break the drought.
But yes, some rain coming in, uh, maybe before midnight but midnight and after
and then
tomorrow. So tomorrow is not gonna be as beautiful as today
but still mild.
Uh, that sunset tonight,
441 and like Sandy and I were talking about that sunrise is getting later,
but the sunset now is getting a little bit later. So that's fantastic.
We've already peaked out
at uh the earliest sunset, which was at 440.
All right. So what's going on now?
We're just looking at that not only a beautiful night,
uh, but dry early this evening, showers overnight for sure.
And showers at times tomorrow, even areas of drizzle,
but don't worry about that rain at the moment.
56 degrees southeast wind. It's been a little bit gusty 13 miles an hour.
It'll stay up tonight also. So, where's the rain now? It's in Kansas City
and eventually it moves in our direction. I'll time this out
and talk about amounts coming up in just a bit Brent. All right, Jim,
close.
We keep our weather first forecast updated for you online for that information,
text the word weather to 3144255355.
Any time of day, 52 dogs at care STL need a home for the holidays,
permanent or temporary.
They need a lot of help to spread the word staff and volunteers will be living at the
shelter around the clock until every one of the pups has a home five on your sides.
Tracy Hinson has the details.
So starting on Saturday, shelter staff and volunteers will all be in
to keep the dogs company hoping everybody can find a home before Christmas.
The goal is twofold. One.
We want every dog to be at home for the holidays and not be here lonely at the shelter.
But the other part is we have to do some repairs to our facility to our flooring.
And so we need to remove all of the dogs from our dog housing building
and we need to have that done by Monday
to extended adoption hour,
staff and volunteers have committed to staying
with the dogs until everyone goes home.
Our staff is going to be living on site at the shelter 24 7 until we find a placement,
either adoptive or foster homes for all 52 dogs that are still left on site,
living with the dogs is also going to help them find the right homes.
We'll take special videos and pictures to really help promote them and
get to know them better so we can make good matches for them
for dogs. Adoption fees are free up until Christmas Tracy Hinton five on your side.