Probable-cause statement details charges against Mississippi County sheriff

The investigation surrounding Mississippi County Sheriff Cory Hutcheson dates back to at least mid-2014 and the most recent of his alleged crimes occurred only two weeks ago, police said.

Hutcheson, 33, of East Prairie, Missouri, was arrested Wednesday after the Missouri Attorney General's Office charged him with 18 criminal acts, including allegations he assaulted an elderly woman by handcuffing her with such force she suffered a heart attack.

Mississippi County Coroner Terry Parker served the warrants to Hutcheson and handled the sheriff's duties from about 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. Wednesday while Hutcheson was arrested and posted a $75,000 bond. Hutcheson resumed his duties as sheriff later Wednesday.

"He did resume his duties yesterday afternoon," Parker said Thursday in a phone interview. "And he will remain in that capacity until the (Missouri) Attorney General makes some kind of ruling that he either can or cannot fulfill those duties."

The Missouri Attorney General's Office did not immediately respond to multiple inquiries regarding when or whether Hutcheson will be relieved of his duties as sheriff.

Mississippi County Sheriff's Department Capt. Barry Morgan said Thursday in a phone interview he was unaware of any communications from the attorney general's office to the sheriff's department regarding Hutcheson's fitness to serve as sheriff.

"[Hutcheson's] been in and out of the office. ... Nothing has changed other than the incident yesterday," Morgan said. "He's still acting as sheriff."

Hutcheson denied the allegations, Morgan said.

"He told me that it was untrue and that it would be resolved in court, but he cannot comment further than that," Morgan said. "He was advised by his counsel, his lawyer, not to say anything to the media."

Morgan said he did not know who Hutcheson's attorney is, and referred further inquiries to the attorney general's office.

The most serious charges stem from an incident that occurred roughly three months after Hutcheson assumed his duties as sheriff. On March 24, he went in uniform to an East Prairie beauty shop to obtain his sister-in-law's final paycheck, according to a probable-cause statement filed in the case by Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper Tim Craig.

Earlier that day, the business owner had withheld the check, claiming Hutcheson's sister-in-law had taken company property and could collect her check if she returned it, Craig wrote.

The business owner was not present when Hutcheson arrived, so he demanded the check from her sister, 77-year-old Bonnie Woods, who produced the check but asked Hutcheson to return the property in question before she would hand it over, Craig wrote.

Hutcheson told Woods that if she did not comply, he would arrest her for "assaulting" his sister-in-law; an act multiple eyewitnesses later told police never happened, Craig wrote.

When Woods asked again for the property, he handcuffed her left wrist so tightly it bled and grabbed her right arm, bruising it in the process, Craig wrote.

Hutcheson then "grabbed [his sister-in-law's] paycheck from Woods' right hand, uncuffed her and abruptly left," Craig wrote.

In the hour after the incident, Hutcheson deposited the check for $428.12 into his sister-in-law's bank account while Woods began to experience chest pain later determined to be a heart attack by medical staff at a hospital in Sikeston, Missouri, Craig wrote.

Woods was transported to Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau where she was treated and discharged three days later, according to the statement.

After depositing the check, Hutcheson "submitted a probable-cause affidavit to the Mississippi County Prosecuting Attorney requesting charges against Woods for kidnapping [in the] third degree and assault in the fourth degree," alleging two elderly females assaulted and held his sister-in-law against her will that morning, Craig wrote.

Multiple witnesses to the morning's incident told police no such kidnapping or assault had transpired, according to Craig's statement.

Reached by phone Thursday, Woods declined to comment on the incident, citing "traumatic pain."

The investigation outlined in Hutcheson's other charges began at least two years before he was elected sheriff but while he was a Mississippi County sheriff's deputy, according to another probable-cause statement filed in the case by Highway Patrol Cpl. D.B. Reed.

The FBI and Missouri State Highway Patrol watched, over a four-month period in 2014, as Hutcheson used a tech service under contract with the sheriff's office to unlawfully "ping" several cellphones, including those of five highway patrol officers, the former Mississippi County sheriff Keith Moore and Circuit Judge David Dolan, Reed wrote.

In each case, Hutcheson obtained the physical location of the cellphones by submitting false affidavits he notarized himself, according to the statement.

The "pings" constituted warrantless searches, and there is no record of Hutcheson applying for or receiving a search warrant to utilize the technique, Reed wrote.

On Oct. 23, 2014, the same day Hutcheson tracked Dolan's cellphone, Hutcheson "performed a notarial act, in connection with a transaction [in] which he had a disqualifying interest. Hutcheson notarized his own signature on an affadavit he completed and signed as the author," Reed wrote.

Of the 18 total charges, nine are felonies. if convicted on all counts stemming from just the March 24 incident, Hutcheson faces a minimum sentence of 15 1/2 years and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, according to Missouri State Statues cited in the charging documents.

A condition of Hutcheson's bond bars him from leaving Missouri and requires him to surrender his passport.

tgraef@semissourian.com

(473)388-3627

Pertinent address:

200 W. Commercial St., Charleston, Mo.