Former Fredericktown police officer pleads guilty to child sex crimes

ST. CHARLES, Mo. (AP) -- A former southeast Missouri police captain and Boy Scout leader has pleaded guilty to 22 counts related to the sexual abuse of minors.

Forty-two-year-old Kenneth Tomlinson II appeared Friday in St. Charles County Circuit Court on a change of venue from Madison County. He pleaded guilty to 16 counts of statutory sodomy and three counts each of sexual exploitation of a minor and possessing child pornography.

Tomlinson is a former Fredericktown police captain, which is the town's equivalent of police chief. He led a Boy Scout troop from 1998 until his arrest earlier this year.

An investigator previously testified that Tomlinson admitted the assaults began in early 2009 and usually happened in his truck after Scout meetings.

He is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 4 and could face multiple life prison terms.