Federal tax lien of more than $16,000 filed against Stoddard County prosecutor

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- A federal tax lien has been filed against Stoddard County Prosecuting Attorney Russell Oliver and his wife for taxes apparently owed in 2008 and 2009.

A representative of the IRS filed a "notice of federal tax lien" on March 11 with the Stoddard County Recorder of Deeds office against Russell and Jennifer Oliver of the 18000 block of County Road 426 at Bloomfield.

The lien, which was prepared March 3 in Chicago, shows the Olivers filed 1040 tax forms in 2008 and 2009 and have an assessed unpaid balance of $7,281.35 in 2008 and $8,754.85 in 2009 for a total of $16,036.20.

"It's a debt that's just owed, and I wanted to retire the obligation, but wanted, needed to pay my electric bill and grocery bill for my family more than I could pay that," Oliver said. "It's just a practical reality I would like to pay it, but I have a 3-year-old daughter and have to have electricity in the house.

"It's just unfortunate; I've been trying to resolve it for a while even before the lien was filed."

Oliver said he is in the same situation as "lots of people," indicating there are thousands of tax liens filed with the recorder's office. Given his elected position, he said, he can see why people would be interested in his situation.

Stoddard County Recorder Kay Asbell said she couldn't put a number on how many tax liens are on file with her office at this time. The liens come in a few at a time every couple of weeks from both the state and the IRS, she said. None of the other tax liens reportedly involve elected officials.

"It's only a federal lien; it has no bearing on my ability to stay in [the prosecutor[']s] position," Oliver said last week. "It's not owed to the county or state; it's federal. I had expected to have it paid [and] thought it would be paid by [Friday]. It will be paid by the first of next week."

Oliver is investigating Weaver Dickerson, the former president and CEO of a proposed Cape Girardeau medical clinic. Oliver has filed two amended motions, the most recent one in January, to revoke Dickerson's probation for padding the company's financial data on a state loan application last July.

Oliver has asked a judge to wait to set a date for the revocation hearing until the investigation is complete.

The first motion claims Dickerson violated his probation, which was for writing more than $90,000 in bad checks in 2006 and 2007, by committing new crimes, including making a false affidavit and making a false declaration in his application for $2 million in state aid. Dickerson is no longer employed by the company.

Southeast Missourian staff writer Scott Moyers contributed to this report.

Pertinent address:

Bloomfield, MO