The Taney County Prosecuting Attorney announced that on Thursday, March 6, 2014, MEGAN M. KAHNERT, d/o/b: 03-23-1992, of Branson West, Missouri, entered an Alford plea of guilty to the class B felony of robbery in the second degree. There was no plea agreement as to what sentence Kahnert will receive. Circuit Court Judge Mark Orr scheduled formal sentencing for April 17, 2014.

“An Alford plea is akin to a plea of ‘no contest’,” says Taney County Prosecutor Jeff Merrell, “in that the defendant agrees that the State has sufficient evidence to convict her, if the case went to trial. The defendant in such a plea may still avoid admitting responsibility for her crime, though.”

On the night of September 11, 2013, Kahnert was with a male, sitting in an automobile in a parking lot at Branson Landing. A woman who had just left work was getting into her car to drive home, when the male approached the woman, threatened her with a gun, and stole her purse. After being identified as a suspect in the robbery some months later, Kahnert was contacted by Branson Police, but she refused to cooperate with officers. The male, who was with Kahnert during the robbery, was identified by the victim as having been the man who stole her purse. When questioned by police, the man confessed to robbing the victim and – along with Kahnert – spending the money from the stolen purse. Kahnert was on probation in Stone County for misdemeanor stealing when she committed this felony offense.

Robbery in the second degree is a class B felony. The range of punishment for a class B felony is not less than five (5) years in prison and not more than fifteen (15) years in prison.