Maries County Prosecutor says lack of evidence prevented charges against Sheriff Heitman

Columbia, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Maries County Prosecutor says that claims he declined to press charges against Sheriff Chris Heitman are false. 

Last week, Judge Brenden Fox ordered the release of criminal investigation records that allege Sheriff Chris Heitman falsified written statements, altered a death investigation for insurance benefits, defrauded the Missouri Highway Safety Systems overtime grant and misappropriated funds for personal use. The documents released were put together by Vienna Police Chief Shannon Thompson. 

Vienna City Attorney Nathan Nickolaus wrote in a press release that the “Maries County Prosecuting Attorney declined to prosecute any of the charges alleged.” 

However, County Prosecuting Attorney Tony Skouby said the only allegations against Heitman that were ever presented to him were regarding Belle Mayor Daryl White’s search warrant application. 

Last December, Heitman executed a search warrant for Belle City Hall. At the time, Heitman told ABC 17 News that the search was executed because of “stolen items” and that Mayor Daryl White was the “sole person of interest.” The city later released a statement saying that no funds or items were missing. White had only been in office for six months at the time the search warrant was executed. 

A probable cause statement from Thompson alleges that Heitman lied in a signed affidavit, which claimed that city officials had witnessed White stealing spray paint and a city-owned handgun that he was not authorized to take. 

Heitman calls the allegations “unsubstantiated and unfounded,” later adding that Thompson has “integrity issues”. ABC 17 News reached out to Thompson for comment.

“This is nothing more than the corrupt action of the Vienna Police Department Chief there,” Heitman said. “There's not anything in his affidavits that hold any merit, that have any evidence otherwise that Attorney General would have taken action, the highway patrol or the FBI. Someone would have listened to them.” 

According to Skouby, he was later approached by a law enforcement officer about the White investigation. He allegedly asked the officer to gather potential witnesses to make written statements. However, he says he never received any documents, which is why no charges were filed. 

“It was alleged by Shannon Thompson that the sheriff had lied in his affidavit. I reviewed his probable cause statement and requested that he get written statements from the witnesses to support the allegations and prevent the story from changing,” Skouby said in a statement to ABC 17 News. “I did not receive any written statements from witnesses. Therefore, all I had to go on was Shannon Thompson’s version of what he remembered from talking to them. In my line of business people say all kinds of things in the heat of the moment but often don’t want to come to court and testify.  Shannon Thompson can’t testify to what they told him. That is hearsay. Without their written statements I would have nothing to impeach the witnesses with. So either Thompson did not try and get the statements or the witnesses refused to give them. To say I declined to file charges is not exactly accurate when in fact I asked for more evidence before making that decision.” 

Skouby added that he was not in office when the allegations -- that Heitman had activated debit cards on the sheriff’s bond and service fee checking accounts for a personal trip -- were made. 

According to Nickolaus, police records with allegations against Heitman were released because the sheriff had “wanted records of criminal investigations about himself or any of his deputies.” 

Heitman previously said that he asked for the records after reading a story in the “Riverfront Times,” a weekly newspaper that ran in St. Louis until recently. Heitman claims the story made false accusations about him, which were allegedly spearheaded by Thompson. 

Thompson was deposed on June 13 and appeared in court on June 20 for the lawsuit between Vienna and Heitman regarding the documents and the Vienna Police Department’s refusal to release them. A copy of the June 20 deposition sent to ABC 17 from Heitman shows that Thompson admitted he did not have jurisdiction to investigate some of the allegations, which is why some of the documents are labeled “synopsis” without a case number.

Thompson also admits during the deposition that he turned in a police report to Skouby, but it was declined because there was no probable cause statement or charging documents forwarded to him. 

Heitman has denied all of the allegations and says he is considering legal action for the way the City of Vienna and Thompson “defamed and slandered” him while he is leaving office, saying it could have a lasting impact on his reputation. 

“I can't predict what's going on in his head. He's not a rational individual,” Heitman said when asked why Thompson would be motivated to make up “false” acquisitions against him. “ The fact that  he's done this is  just shocking, really.” 

Heitman said Thompson’s family requested an investigation about “some insurance inheritance” which he later requested the Missouri State Highway Patrol to investigate.

Skouby claims that both Thompson and Heitman have requested that charges be filed against each other “at one time or another.” However, Heitman denied ever filing charges against Thompson. 

During the June 20 deposition, Thompson acknowledged that he was a former deputy for the Maries County Sheriff’s Office before resigning in 2008 before Heitman took office. 

“I felt I had too many irons in the fire,” Thompson said in court documents when asked why he resigned. “I felt I had too many irons in the fire.”