DENISE RENEE TURNEY, d/o/b 09-28-1959, of Kirbyville, pleaded guilty and was sentenced in five (5) felony cases on Thursday, May 16, 2013, in the Circuit Court of Taney County. Circuit Court Judge Mark Orr sentenced Turney to a total of fourteen (14) years in the Missouri Department of Corrections in five (5) separate felony cases, pursuant to a plea agreement with the State.

Between January 21, 2011, and October 14, 2012, Turney was involved in four (4) separate misdemeanor stealing incidents, ranging from three shopliftings from Wal-Mart in Branson, to a purse snatching from a bingo game in Ridgedale. Turney admitted to the officers investigating each incident that she had committed the offenses. Additionally, on December 13, 2012, Turney failed to appear for court on those cases and a warrant was issued for her arrest. Turney was spotted by an officer with the Taney County Sheriff’s Department on January 23, 2013, and was arrested after fleeing in a high speed motor vehicle chase.

Stealing is normally a class A misdemeanor, which carries up to a year in the county jail and/or up to a $1,000 fine. However, Turney had two prior stealing convictions within the last ten (10) years, which enhances the range of punishment in each stealing case to that of a class D felony, which carries up to four (4) years in prison and/or up to a $5,000 fine.

Turney received a total of fourteen (14) years on all of the stealing cases, with several of her sentences running consecutive to one another. She also pled guilty to the class D felony of resisting arrest, which will run concurrently with the fourteen (14) year sentence.