Health care workers held hostage, Meta man arrested

BY LAURA SCHIERMEIER, ADVOCATE Staff Writer, lschiermeier@wardpub.com 
Posted 6/30/21

A delusional Meta man was arrested without harm after he gave Maries County Sheriff’s Deputies a harrowing experience while holding two health care workers hostage at his home.

The Maries …

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Health care workers held hostage, Meta man arrested

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A delusional Meta man was arrested without harm after he gave Maries County Sheriff’s Deputies a harrowing experience while holding two health care workers hostage at his home.

The Maries County Sheriff’s Office on June 22 arrested Joshua A.  Weeks, 39, Meta, and took him to the Maries County Jail. He has been charged in Maries County with the felonies of two counts of second degree kidnapping and one count of armed criminal action.

The sheriff’s office reported at 8:30 a.m. last Tuesday, a crisis intervention trained (CIT) Deputy Quinten Moore responded to a request by Compass Health Counselors for assistance at a home visit northwest of Vienna. The counselors said the individual they were visiting was suffering from mental health and substance abuse issues and had been placed on a 12-hour safe keeping hold over the weekend from a separate incident. The counselors’ visit Tuesday was to evaluate his condition, follow-up on previous medical care, and to see if there were any services he could benefit from. He requested help and an ambulance was dispatched to the residence. 

The sheriff’s office said unfortunately, during this incident, he became very delusional and refused to allow the counselors to leave. They found out he had multiple firearms in the residence and more than one of them was loaded and in his possession. He was acting in a manner placing everyone there at an immediate threat of harm. 

The sheriff’s deputies who responded took up containment around the residence and attempted to make contact with the subject from outside. Eventually a family member convinced him to go onto the residence’s porch where Deputies Moore and Edwards were able to place him under arrest. 

The sheriff’s office stated in a posting about the incident, that there is relief no one was injured, but it could have gone the other way and ended with a death. This is the fourth incident the sheriff’s office has had with Weeks within the past 12 months. Sheriff Chris Heitman was almost forced to shoot him during one of those incidents. 

Weeks currently is in the county jail while a long term mental health facility is being arranged by Compass Health, the sheriff’s office reported. The posting urged family members who are concerned with mental health issues of a loved one to remove firearms from the home. 

“Law enforcement officers do not want to kill your loved one, neither do we want our first responders or mental health professionals to lose their life in service to the community,” the sheriff’s posting stated. “Please step in. Do not leave it to us or someone else.”