St. Louis, MO
Former County Sheriff Cory Hutcheson, 35, of East Prairie, Missouri found guilty this week of wire fraud and to illegally possessing and transferring the means of identification of others will be sentenced in February, according to officials.
As part of the plea, Hutcheson who served in Mississippi County in Missouri, agreed to resign as Sheriff not later than November 24, 2018.
“Sheriff Hutcheson simply misused an important law enforcement tool for his own purposes and, as a result, invaded the privacy of hundreds without the appropriate legal process,” said U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen.
Hutcheson devised a scheme to get the location of hundreds of people through Securus LBS requests, according to authorities. He didn’t have any consent or legal authority to do so.
In his plea, Hutcheson admitted from April of 2014 through March 2017, he got the location data of mobile telephone users, including law enforcement officers, personal associates and friends, as well as a judge, without authorization. He would routinely upload false and fraudulent documents to the Securus LBS platform.
Hutcheson is facing up to 25 years in prison if convicted of the charges.
Hutcheson, 35, was a longtime deputy in Mississippi County, about 150 miles south of St. Louis. He was elected sheriff in November 2016 and took office in January 2017, according to Witchita Eagle.
Hutcheson faces other criminal charges.
The state charges alleged that Hutcheon entered Joyce’s Beauty Shop in East Prairie on March 24, 2017, to pick up a paycheck for his sister-in-law, who had been accused of taking property belonging to the business. The shop owner was holding the check until the property was returned, according to the Witchita Eagle.
The Wichita Eagle reported that Hutcheson approached 77-year-old Bonnie Woods, an employee and a sister of the shop owner, and demanded the paycheck, threatening arrest if she refused, authorities said. When Woods refused, the sheriff allegedly grabbed her left wrist and applied the handcuff with enough force that it bled, grabbed the check, removed the handcuff and left.
Woods felt chest pains and was taken to a hospital where it was determined she had a heart attack, authorities said. She recovered.
Later that day, Hutcheson submitted an affidavit to the county prosecutor seeking assault and kidnapping charges against Woods. He alleged that the sister-in-law was held against her will when she tried to pick up her final paycheck, according to the Wichita Eagle.
Those charges against Hutcheson are pending, according to officials.