Mississippi Co. sheriff arrested on 18 criminal offenses; still handling duties

Mississippi County Sheriff Cory Hutcheson was arrested on criminal charges including assault, robbery and forgery, according to a news release from the Missouri Attorney General’s Office on Wednesday.

An investigation conducted by the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Federal Bureau of Investigation led to the Attorney General’s Office filing two sets of charges that outline a total of 18 criminal offenses.

Mississippi County Jail administrator Sally Gammons-Yanez, speaking on behalf of the sheriff’s office, confirmed Hutcheson had been arrested but said he was back and handling the duties of sheriff by 5 p.m. Wednesday. She said the sheriff’s office had no further comment regarding the case.

While the statement from the Attorney General’s Office did not include the dates of the alleged offenses, the first charge concerns actions committed while he was a sheriff’s deputy.

Hutcheson “used his position as a sheriff’s deputy to illegally ‘ping’ the cell phones of several members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the former Mississippi County Sheriff, and Circuit Judge David Dolan,” according to the statement. He faces seven counts of forgery, seven counts of tampering with computer data and one count of notary misconduct. Forgery is a class D felony; notary misconduct is a misdemeanor; and tampering with computer data may be either a class A misdemeanor or a class E felony depending on whether the perpetrator intends to defraud or obtain property worth $750 or more. The Attorney General’s Office did not specify what the computer tampering entailed.

Hutcheson was elected sheriff in November 2016 and assumed the office Jan. 1, 2017. The other set of charges allege Hutcheson, in uniform, handcuffed a 77-year-old woman after she was involved in a civil dispute with one of Hutcheson’s family members, according to the statement.

The woman suffered a heart attack as a result of the detention and was treated for three days at a hospital before being discharged, according to the statement.

Hutcheson then filed a false probable-cause statement in which he accused the woman of kidnapping and assaulting one of his family members, according to the statement. He is charged with second-degree assault, first-degree robbery and making a false declaration, according to the news release. First-degree robbery is a class A felony. Second-degree assault is a class D felony. Making a false declaration is a class B misdemeanor.

Missouri Highway Patrol public information Sgt. Clark Parrot referred all inquiries to the Missouri Attorney General’s Office deputy chief of staff Loree Anne Paradise. Reached by phone, Paradise said the information contained in the statement was all that could be released at the time and referred inquiries to filing documents in the case.

As of 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, a search of online court filings for case numbers supplied by Paradise returned no results.

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573)388-3627

Pertinent address:

200 W. Commercial St., Charleston, Mo.