Ash Grove man arrested, charged with felonious unlawful possession of firearms

An Ash Grove man is in custody in the Greene County Jail, charged with four counts of unlawful possession of a firearm. William Paul Kuhl, 53, was booked into the jail on Friday, Jan. 24; he was taken into custody by officers from the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office earlier that day.
According to the probable cause statement in the case, a woman who spoke with police about Kuhl signed an affidavit stating Kuhl was found in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart in Mt. Vernon, “slurring his speech, staggering and shaking.” Kuhl was taken to Cox South, and then released to go home the next morning.
The woman said she drove Kuhl to Mt. Vernon to retrieve his vehicle, and then to the Mt. Vernon Police Department to get two guns and a knife which were on his person when he was found by a police officer.
The woman said she went to work in Springfield, and when she arrived back home, Kuhl’s vehicle was in the driveway. She reported that the front windshield was broken and the front of the vehicle was damaged; Kuhl, she said, was sitting on the ground slumped over with bruising and swelling to his left temple. The woman called 911 for assistance; she said first responders noted that Kuhl seemed confused, his pupils were pinpoint and his speech was slurred. Two pistols and a .308 rifle were found in his truck.
The woman also told an investigating officer that many firearms were missing from the house, Kuhl had made statements about various ways to kill people, and he would threaten her with knives or guns when angry.
Later that evening, an officer responding to a call about Kuhl’s door standing open reported finding Kuhl sitting in a chair; the officer said he appeared lethargic and confused, and his answers to the officer’s questions didn’t seem to make a lot of sense. The officer also noted several bottles of medications around Kuhl. One bottle, he stated, contained only 27 pills out of 90; it had been filled just five days earlier, and directions were to take only up to three pills per day. The officer also stated the Ash Grove Fire Protection District arrived and said they believed Kuhl was abusing his medication.
The officer spoke with the woman who had signed the affidavit regarding Kuhl earlier and told her that Kuhl had been taken to the hospital. The woman arrived at the house and relinquished all of Kuhl’s firearms to the officer: a Taurus .357 magnum revolver, a 9-millimeter pistol, a pump action shotgun and a .308 rifle. An order of protection was also granted to the woman two days later.
On Dec. 28, Kuhl allegedly entered the residence, took some of the woman’s belongings and then dumped them at her sister’s house; he also left her a note. A full order of protection was granted to the woman on Jan. 7. Felony charges were filed against Kuhl on Jan. 16.
As of press time, he continued to be held in the Greene County Jail without bond. He is next due in court on Feb. 5.