Records allege misconduct by Maries County Sheriff; Heitman calls claims ‘lies’

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Maries County judge ordered the release of criminal investigation records that allege Sheriff Chris Heitman intimidated witnesses, falsified written statements and misappropriated funds for personal use. Heitman maintains that he has done nothing wrong and claims the allegations are a result of “lies and corruption.” 

On Monday, Judge Brenden Fox issued an order allowing the City of Vienna to release police records regarding criminal investigations. According to Vienna City Attorney Nathan Nickolaus, the records were released because Heitman made a Sunshine Request, asking for more transparency. 

“He wanted records of criminal investigations about himself or any of his deputies,” Nickolaus said. 

Heitman confirmed that he started asking for records after he read a story in the “Riverfront Times,” which was a weekly newspaper that ran in St. Louis until recently. Heitman claims the story made false accusations about him. He believes some of the stories in the report were spearheaded by Vienna Police Chief  Shannon Thompson. 

“Once they submitted this story to the ‘Riverfront Times,’ that's when I learned about it.  That's when I started asking for the records. So,  I am the reason these are out because I wanted to see what the heck he was even talking about,” Heitman said. 

In a court deposition sent to ABC 17 News from Heitman, Thompson said that some of the quotes attributed to him in the article were “not entirely” accurate.  

“I had told him that this information had been forwarded to State agencies without results, but I didn't tell him that I'd been trying to get·somebody to look at him for years,” Thompson said during the deposition, according to court records. 

Thompson later admitted during the deposition he did not have jurisdiction to investigate some of the allegations which is why some of the documents are simply labeled “synopsis” without a case number.

Heitman told ABC 17 News he has “no regrets” about requesting the police reports because he “wanted to get to the bottom” of what was happening in the county. However, he admitted that he was “unaware of what was all in there.” 

“Everybody knows I'm the most transparent sheriff out there, even if I've done something wrong or my deputy that [has] done something wrong, I'd make a comment,” Heitman said. “I'm glad they're released because it's not exposing me. It's exposing the corruption in the City of Vienna police department and what they've done.  They've hindered other investigations, which I can't go into.  But that's all going to come to light in some upcoming court cases.”  

Nicholas says the city thought the decision to open previously closed records was going to be “controversial.” Because of this, they opted to ask the court to determine if it could release them. Fox ordered that the police records be released due to the “public interest in the matter,” according to a Tuesday release. 

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 Glock handgun that he was not authorized to take. 

On February 28, 2020, Thompson alleges that former Maries County Sheriff Clerk Tera Best told him that Heitman had activated debit cards on the sheriff’s bond and service fee checking accounts. 

Court documents say that Best told Thompson that Heitman took a trip to the Alabama Gulf Shores in May 2016 with his roommate Bret Turnbough, who is also a deputy. Bank statements from the trip showed the Sheriff’s checking account had been used nine times over the course of six days in restaurants, stores and bars. The total amount charged to the card was $426.12, according to court documents. 

“We issued a bank debit card and the debit card looked identical to the deputy’s debit card.  That's the Maries County Bank debit card. The deputy used it on accident,” Heitman said when asked about the allegations. “You swipe it like a credit card and it was used three or four times, I don’t remember the location. It was discovered on the next statement, the deputy was notified, it was immediately paid back. It was reported to the county commissioners as well as auditors and there's nothing wrong with what happened.” 

Court documents also claim Best told Thompson to talk to former deputy T.J Halle, who had more information about “misuse of County funds.” Court documents allege that Halle responded to a suicide call on June 17, 2020. A man had called Maries County 911 Communications saying that he was going to shoot himself before the call disconnected. Halle claims that the man called a second time and shot himself while speaking with a dispatcher. 

When Halle arrived on the scene, court documents say the man was alive and able to speak. He was airlifted to Columbia, where he later died from his injuries. Halle claims that Heitman insisted on taking the case himself, then later received a request from the man’s insurance company requesting a homicide report. 

Thompson claims in court documents that Halle later told him Heitman and the Sheriff's S.W.A.T team went to Moreland’s Resort to eat after a day of training and that one of the man’s family members paid the entire bill because the family had received a large insurance benefit as a result of Heitman altering the investigative report.  

“Think about it. If I would change something to homicide from a suicide, that's news.  I mean, you can't believe that. That's just insane really. That's obviously fabricated,” Heitman said when pressed on the allegations. 

Heitman told ABC 17 News that Halle was terminated from his office, but would not provide details as to why.

In July 2023, Thompson wrote a letter to Attorney General Andrew Bailey about concerns he initially raised in September 2022 that Heitman and his Deputy Clerk Rhonda Kottwitz were defrauding the Missouri Highway Safety Systems overtime grant. Thompson alleged in the letter that Heitman had his deputies log hours that they did not work to receive overtime grant funding as well as withholding pay from deputies that had actually worked overtime hours. According to Thompson Kottwitz was trained by Heitman after Best was fired. 

 The Maries County prosecutor has declined to prosecute any of the alleged charges. 

“They attempted to send them to the attorney general and he wouldn't do anything,” Nickolaus said. “They're kind of at the end of their rope.”

White's case was moved to Phelps County over the summer. A pretrial conference is scheduled for 1 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5.

Check back for updates.