NEWS

Springfield man sexually assaulted woman 12 hours after posting bond, deputies say

Alissa Zhu
DZHU@NEWS-LEADER.COM
Anthony L. Evans

A Springfield man sexually assaulted a woman, Greene County deputies say, within 12 hours of being released from jail — while he was on house arrest with a GPS monitor.

Anthony L. Evans, 33, allegedly assaulted the woman after he posted $90,000 in bonds from four unrelated cases on Sept. 20, according to the prosecutor's bond recommendation document.

Evans is to be held without bond, online court records show.

Evans was charged Thursday with two felonies from incidents involving different victims that took place years apart. He has been charged with first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy.

Both victims knew Evans by his nickname, "Cookie" or "Cookie Monster," according to Greene County Sheriff's Office probable cause statements, which were used as a basis for the charges against Evans.

On Feb. 16, 2014, a female victim told Greene County deputies that Evans raped her in her boyfriend's bathroom.

She said Evans asked her to go with him into the bathroom because he needed to talk to her about something important.

Evans said he had proof the victim's boyfriend had cheated on her and showed her text messages, according to a probable cause statement.

When the woman tried to leave the bathroom, Evans said she needed to give him something in return.

The statement said the victim began crying after Evans forced her on top of him.

The alleged victim said she did not call for help from her boyfriend and several other people who were in the residence at the time because she had heard Evans carries a gun with him.

The assistant prosecutor on Evans' case, Nathan Chapman, told the News-Leader it took more than two years for the first charge to be submitted.

"It was delayed because the lab was backed up," Chapman said.

After Evans allegedly raped her, the woman went to a local hospital, where evidence was gathered for a sexual assault kit, the statement said.

The kit and DNA swabs collected from Evans were sent to the Missouri State Highway Patrol Crime Laboratory. The lab report concluded that Evans could not be eliminated as a match for DNA found on the victim.

A different female victim reported that Evans sexually assaulted her on Sept. 20, 2016, according to another probable cause statement.

The victim said Evans was on house arrest at the residence of the victim's boyfriend and her boyfriend's mother.

The boyfriend and the mother had left the residence to purchase marijuana, leaving the victim in the trailer with Evans and two other men, the statement said.

The statement said Evans assaulted the woman after the two smoked methamphetamine together in a bedroom.

The victim struggled with Evans and attempted to stab him with a pair of scissors, the statement said.

The woman said Evans let her go and told her not to tell anyone because he would say "she wanted it."

The victim alleged Evans attempted to intimidate her with a taser-flashlight device.

She said Evans bought drugs from a man who arrived at the trailer after the assault.

According to charging documents, Evans was found guilty in 2015 of domestic assault and unlawful use of a weapon, both felonies. Evans is currently on probation for both cases.

Evans has been charged with several other criminal acts since being placed on probation, including assault on a law enforcement officer, tampering with a motor vehicle, resisting arrest, unlawful possession of a firearm and leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident, according to the prosecutor's bond recommendation document.

Chapman, the assistant prosecutor, also worked on those earlier cases.

"I tried to send him to prison a while ago... When we asked for nine years prison, he was given probation," Chapman said.

Online court records appear to indicate Judge Calvin Holden handed down Evans' sentences.

Evans was wearing a GPS monitor at the time of his most recent arrest. However, the bond recommendation document said, the GPS monitor was not providing location information because it was not charged properly.

Evans does not have an attorney listed for this case.