Clergyman won't be in court until February

A Cape Girardeau clergyman facing stealing charges in Arkansas won't appear in court there until February.

The Rev. Cecil Thomas Jr., pastor of the Second Missionary Baptist Church in Cape Girar-deau, was originally scheduled for a jury trial to have begun Tuesday.

When an arrest warrant issued last month by a circuit judge in Mississippi County, Ark., was revoked, the trial date was changed to Feb. 24 unless the charges are dropped or Thomas pleads guilty at a Feb. 15 motion and plea hearing.

Pleading guilty isn't likely to happen. Thomas has said he's innocent of the charges, which he said are the result of a personal beef between himself a few people at his former church, Pleasant Grove Church in Osceola, Ark.

"It won't make it to court because these bogus charges are going to be dropped; I know I'm innocent," Thomas told the Southeast Missourian earlier this month.

Thomas is charged with writing unauthorized checks to himself for $1,400 each, which allegedly occurred in August 2005. Charges were filed Oct. 5, 2006 after Thomas left to come to Cape Girardeau.

Thomas was arrested by Cape Girardeau police Nov. 19 after a driver's license check revealed the Arkansas warrant for failure to appear.

Five hours later the warrant was revoked. Thomas' attorney, Roy C. Lewellen, said earlier this month that he warrant came from a paperwork error at the court, which had scheduled Thomas' court appearance for the wrong date.

Lewellen was not in his office for comment Tuesday, and Thomas didn't return a call from the Southeast Missourian.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182