Local charges dropped, as federal case expected

Ozark County Prosecuting Attorney Lee Pipkins announced during the March 4 Law Day session that local charges against Caulfield resident Buster Ferraro have been dismissed, as the case is being taken over at the federal level. Ferraro is expected to face federal charges stemming from allegations that he sexually assaulted and exploited a child.

He was charged in Ozark County with sexual exploitation of a minor child, a class A felony, for allegedly filming a girl while nude. He was also charged with sexual abuse of a child younger than 14, a class B felony, for other reported actions. 

According to the probable cause filed in the case, prepared by Ozark County Deputy Vesa Phelan, on May 1, 2025, the Ozark County Sheriff’s Office assisted the Division of Family Services in investigating allegations of sexual misconduct between Ferraro and a girl younger than 14. 

Phelan, along with deputy Jeff Lane and former deputy Todd Beaver, responded to the residence with DFS Investigator Kelly Denbow and spoke with the individual who reported the abuse. The reporting party said that she had initially met with the girl after she’d made comments about ending her life. When asked if something was going on in her life, the girl disclosed that Ferraro had made sexual advances toward her on multiple occasions in various ways. 

The girl reportedly detailed several incidents of sexual misconduct in detail and actions to the reporting party. 

After speaking with the woman who reported the abuse, the officers found Ferraro and read him his Miranda rights. He agreed to talk to the officers. Deputy Beaver told Ferraro what allegations had been made against him. 

Beaver asked Ferraro to surrender his phone, and Ferraro handed the phone over and gave the officers consent to have the officers check his images and other content.

On May 23, 2025, Task Force Officer Neuschwander conducted a full file system extraction of Ferraro’s phone, and a search warrant was obtained for the phone, the court document says.

The girl’s number was listed in his phone as “[expletive] stain” and the investigator found images that depicted the girl in various states of nudity, which appeared to be from a camera angle consistent with a stationary recording camera that appeared to be hidden or undetected by the girl.

When asked if anything had happened with the girl that made him uncomfortable, the officers said that Ferraro “started to tell us he had a camera that had caught [the girl] grabbing for clothing with just a towel wrapped around her. He changed the story by stating there was no camera near, but the fact that she was in a towel reaching for clothing had made him uncomfortable. When asked if the towel had fallen, he stated no.” He also told officers that he had ripped the crotch out of his pants at work in a way that caused his genital to fall through the hole on occasion. He said he was with the girl that day, but he hadn’t thought she saw anything.