Former Cape cop faces stealing-by-deceit charge

A former Cape Girardeau police officer faces prosecution on a misdemeanor charge of stealing by deceit.

Michael Kidd, 42, of Jackson is accused of being paid more than $1,300 for work he did not do, according to a probable-cause statement.

From June 2015 to April 2016, Kidd claimed he worked 16 driving-while-intoxicated “special paid overtime details.”

But investigations by Cape Girardeau police officer Brad Smith and the Missouri State Highway Patrol “revealed there was no evidence” Kidd, a patrolman, worked those details.

Sgt. David C. Bauer of the patrol’s drug and crime control division said in the statement he interviewed all the officers and supervisors who worked the “saturation patrols” on the dates listed by Kidd.

“In all cases, no one recalled working with patrolman Kidd during any extra saturation details for the past year,” Bauer said.

Bauer wrote Cape Girardeau police documents “indicated there was no evidence” Kidd reported for duty to any other officers, or dispatch personnel by telephone or radio communications.

Gregory Goodwin, assistant attorney general, filed the Class A misdemeanor charge in March in Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court.

Goodwin was named special prosecutor for the case at the request of Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Chris Limbaugh.

In a court document filed Sept. 26, 2016, months before the misdemeanor charge was filed, Limbaugh said Kidd was “a former local police officer” who had been called by the prosecutor’s office to testify in previous criminal cases. He described Kidd as a “prospective defendant” in that court document.

According to the city’s human resources office, Kidd was employed with the city from Dec. 5, 2005, to July 1, 2016.

Gordon Glaus, Kidd’s lawyer, filed a motion for a change of judge in April. The case subsequently was assigned to Judge Craig Brewer.

On May 3, Kidd waived formal arraignment and entered a not-guilty plea.

Kidd’s next scheduled court date is July 5 in circuit court in Jackson.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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