A Pittsfield man charged in connection to the circumstances that led to the death of a Pike County teenager earlier this year pleaded guilty and was sentenced to prison yesterday in Pike County Circuit Court.
45-year old Dennis L. Shannon of Pittsfield pleaded guilty to Class 4 felony contributing to the delinquency of a minor and Class 4 felony giving and/or selling liquor to a minor resulting in death yesterday before Chief Pike County Judge J. Frank McCartney.
Pike County Sheriff & Coroner David Greenwood and Pittsfield Police Chief Michael Starman said in a press release in March that on the morning of January 21st Pittsfield Police officers received a report of a missing juvenile. The missing person was identified as 17-year old Landon Hettinger of Pittsfield. Officers began searching for Hettinger and later received a report of a deceased teenaged male at Illini Community Hospital in Pittsfield. Hettinger was identified at the decedent.
Both offices began an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the teenager’s death resulting in Shannon’s arrest on March 11th.
Shannon was sentenced yesterday to 3 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections and ordered to pay a county fine. A charge of involuntary manslaughter was dropped per the plea.