Warrant voided for woman who appeared in CrimeStoppers

Cathryn Maya was stunned Wednesday when dozens of friends called her saying they had seen her name and photo in the CrimeStopper feature that appeared in the Southeast Missourian.

It appears Maya's situation was cleared up weeks ago, but some communication lapses ignited a rather simple matter over restitution of a bad check written in 2007 in Scott County. The Scott County Circuit Court issued a letter Wednesday morning, signed by Circuit Clerk Pam Glastetter, saying a warrant for her arrest was issued in error.

It is unclear where the communication lapse was made, but by all accounts Maya paid her fine May 6, the day she was scheduled to be in court. She did not actually appear in court to provide proof that her restitution had been made, however, which is how a warrant ended up being issued for her arrest. She said she retained a receipt.

Judge Scott Horman said Wednesday that Maya needed to provide restitution proof, but didn't. Instead, she relied on the prosecuting attorney's office to supply the court with the information. Maya said she understood the judge to say that as long as she paid the fine within a week of the April 29 date, she wouldn't need to appear in court.

The prosecuting attorney's office, which can process up to 100 cases in a court day, passed along information that Maya did not appear, office manager Paula Bouge said. The circuit court issued a warrant for failure to appear May 6.

Maya's issue was drawn out after she said she tried early on to take care of the matter. She said she was confused that in Scott County a person pays restitution and court costs in two places. She said she paid court costs at one office after a particular court date, but that payment didn't take care of the restitution portion of the offense, which is handled by the prosecuting attorney's office.

Maya said no one has contacted her since May 6. "I'm reachable," she said. "I had a recent court file and all my phone numbers are on it." She also said she has a city business license with contact information.

Horman said when he learned Wednesday that she had paid her restitution, he voided the warrant.

Maya said the situation has been embarrassing, but that her friends throughout the community have shown support.

"Trinity Lutheran Church called to see if it needed to bail me out," she said through tears and laughter. "I told them I'm not going to jail. If someone would have called, I would have fixed it."

The Cape Girardeau Police Department submitted the warrant to the Southeast Missourian as a CrimeStoppers item. CrimeStoppers is a national organization, said Sgt. Barry Hovis, a police spokesman. He said the Cape Girardeau office handles the CrimeStoppers program, and includes arrest warrants from around the region. He said the department relies on information from other jurisdictions being accurate. He said the newspaper feature routinely leads the police to several tips.

bmiller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 121