MISTAKEN IDENTITY LEADS TO WRONGFUL ACCUSATION

A case of mistaken identity linked a Scott City man to a theft he didn't commit.

A convenience store clerk reported that Timothy L. Schlosser's truck drove away without paying for $5 in gasoline. It turns out that Schlosser wasn't driving the truck; his brother-in-law was, and he had stopped to buy only a soda.

Schlosser's name appeared in the Southeast Missourian police report Sunday. A correction appeared Monday explaining it was a matter of mistaken identity.

But on Sunday morning Schlosser began getting telephone calls from family members and friends who had seen the item in the newspaper. The calls were Schlosser's first notification of a crime he did not commit.

"It was a very sickening surprise," Schlosser said. "I called the police department and asked what I had supposedly done."

Police told him his truck had been identified as having been used in a drive-off theft.

"When they told me which truck, I said I wasn't even driving the truck at the time; I had let my brother-in-law use it," he said.

His brother-in-law had stopped at the store to buy the soda, and the clerk apparently mistakenly recorded the truck's license plate and reported it to police.

Cape Girardeau Police Capt. Steve Strong said the clerk gave a vehicle description, license and physical description of a thief who allegedly drove off without paying for gasoline. The license plate checked back to Schlosser.

Strong said numerous attempts were made by police to contact Schlosser. When unsuccessful, a summons was placed in the mail and the incident was reported on the daily summary, which is provided to the newspaper.

It is not unusual for individuals to learn that they have been issued a summons by reading it in the newspaper's police report.

Strong said he couldn't remember a similar situation, but: "We have a lot of drive-off-without-paying incidents. We have located other people who have given indications they don't feel they're guilty."

He said sometimes the charge is dropped; other times it is pursued, depending on the circumstances.

"I have had people state that they weren't guilty of virtually every crime reported in this city," he said.

After learning about the incident, Schlosser's brother-in-law went to the station Sunday and told police he was driving the truck but didn't get gas.

Strong said investigation, including talking with the clerk and witnesses in addition to the brother-in-law, raised sufficient doubt that Schlosser had been involved.

"Most of our mail goes from here to City Hall, where it is metered, and then to post office," Strong said. "Because it was a weekend, the summons was still in the mail tray here." The summons was removed from the mail.

"The other choice would have been to let the summons go out and force Mr. Schlosser to appear in court and plead not guilty," Strong said.

On Sunday, police contacted the newspaper to report that Schlosser was mistakenly identified. An officer also contacted Schlosser's employer.

"The officer went to the effort of getting the summons pulled and then contacted the newspaper and the employer," Strong said. "All those things should be done, but the officer didn't wait. The officer could have left me a note and it would have waited until I came in Monday morning."

Schlosser said the police officer "was really nice about it. She was just as sick about it as I was. I didn't know what to say to her, and she didn't know what to say to me.

"But it really hurt me," he said. "I've never done anything like this. I'm a family man. I have two jobs. I don't have time to get in trouble.

"It made me feel bad that people I knew would read this," Schlosser said. "I hope everyone knows that I'm not that kind of person.

"I had nightmares about it last night," he said Monday.

He said he felt sure his employers and co-workers at Wetterau would have read it too. They did.

"I was dreading coming to work. The warehouse guys are always gigging people. They had already read the paper that it had been resolved. But they gigged me anyway."

"What I hate worst is having my family upset. And I'll always be wondering what people are thinking, if they remember what they read."