Attempted police chief ouster sets off firestorm in small Missouri town

FERRELVIEW, Mo. -- A member of a small western Missouri town's governing board is leading an effort to oust the police chief who investigated statutory-rape allegations against her son.

Theresa Wilson, chairwoman of the Ferrelview Board of Trustees, said she's not claiming her son, Jeffrey Gabbard, is innocent. She said there are other reasons, including budget problems, to oust police chief Daniel Clayton, The Kansas City Star reported.

During a meeting Thursday to discuss the financial shortfalls, the Board of Trustees worked through issues related to reducing the police force and shifting law-enforcement duties to the Platte County sheriff's office.

But the board postponed taking action to terminate Clayton. Opponents accuse him of aggressive enforcement of traffic violations.

Phil Gilliam and another board member opposed the termination, leaving the measure one vote shy.

Gilliam said Wilson's participation in the process seeking to remove Clayton from duty "smacks of conflict of interest."

Ferrelview, a town of 450 people in a mix of homes, apartments and mobile homes, long has depended on traffic fines to support public services, city Treasurer Mickey Vulgamott said.

But limits placed on the revenue towns can generate on fines grew steeper after the turmoil in Ferguson that followed the fatal police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

Ferrelview now can generate only 20 percent of its budget from fines, and that isn't enough to support a police department and municipal court, Vulgamott said.

Wilson said the desire to remove the chief is "unrelated" to the charges filed against her son in October 2015 in a case involving a 14-year-old.

Wilson said she hopes her son is innocent, but he should "face the music" if he's guilty.

A Platte County grand jury indicted Gabbard on a second-degree statutory-rape charge in August 2016. He is in the Platte County jail awaiting trial on the rape charge set for Oct. 16. Gabbard's attorney declined to comment Friday.

The 14-year-old's father, whom The Star is not naming to protect the identity of his daughter, is a defender of Clayton's performance. He said the town's dispute with its police chief "is really alarming," and Clayton has been good for Ferrelview.

Clayton declined an interview request from The Star.