St. Louis woman charged with making terroristic threat to Cape County Jail

An April 12 incident involving a woman making false claims of being COVID-19 positive and recently in physical contact with an inmate in the Cape Girardeau County Jail has resulted in the arrest of the alleged caller.

Brittany Rebecca Scholl, 26, of St. Louis was arrested by Cape Girardeau County sheriff’s deputies Tuesday for making a terroristic threat in the first-degree “with the purpose of frightening 10 or more people or causing the evacuation, quarantine or closure of any portion of a building or inhabitable structure,” according to a Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Office news release.

The release also stated the threat “communicated an express or implied threat to cause an incident or condition involving danger to life” by claiming to be COVID-19 positive and recently in physical contact with Gregory Meyer, an inmate in the facility.

“These statements were not true,” the release stated.

Reached via telephone Tuesday afternoon, Cape Girardeau County Sheriff Ruth Ann Dickerson expressed her commitment to maintaining a safe facility.

“We do take the health and safety of our facility very seriously — for our inmates, for our employees and for the effect it may have on the citizens of Cape Girardeau County,” Dickerson said. “So yes, we do take this very seriously.”

Scholl is in custody at the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Office on one charge of the terroristic threat with a $25,000 cash-only bond, and on a separate warrant from the Jackson Police Department for Class D felony charges of stealing and forgery with a $10,000 cash-only bond.