Former deputy faces charges of assault

A Taylor man who formerly worked as a Marion County deputy and who recently ran for Marion County sheriff faces charges in a 2007 shooting.
Larry J. Uhlmeyer, 53, is accused of one count of felony first-degree assault and three counts of felony second-degree assault. He is free on $100,000 bond pending a court appearance.
Authorities told the Courier-Post in October 2007 that Uhlmeyer shot 25-year-old James R. Rudd of Knox City during a confrontation in the garage of Uhlmeyer’s home along Highway 6 near Taylor the morning of Sept. 30, 2007.
Rudd was airlifted to Blessing Hospital in Quincy, Ill., and later recovered.
In October 2007, the Courier-Post talked to people at the 18-Wheel Restaurant on state Highway 6 near Taylor, where the shooting victim has been from about 1 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning. Sept. 30. One witness said that Rudd had been with a group of eight people.
“The waitress came back and said she wanted to kick somebody out and needed to call the cops, because he was getting belligerent and saying some obscene language about black people,” the witness said. “I didn’t know who he was or who anybody was with him.” The witness and other male employees went into the dining room to assist the female waitresses, if needed. “His group was getting angry with him and a black male was getting mad at him,” the witness said about Rudd, of Knox City. “We asked him to leave and he wouldn’t leave. His group wanted him to leave, and eventually he left on his own and he was walking on the parking lot for awhile. The manager went outside” and told Rudd the officers had been called. When officers with the Marion County Sheriff’s Department arrived he ran, the witness said.
The Marion County Sheriff’s office reported the next day that a caller had notified the department at 7:07 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 30, that a person was inside his garage. While deputies were en route to the scene, the resident called back and reported that the person in the garage had been shot. Deputies were able to recover a weapon, then secured the crime scene.
The sheriff’s department turned over the investigation to the Missouri Highway Patrol. Following an investigation, Uhlmeyer was arrested Tuesday afternoon.
Uhlmeyer was one of five Democrat sheriff’s candidates in the Aug. 5 primary, and was employed as a county deputy from September 2005 until he resigned on April 11, 2007.