Federal Officer Impersonator In Gerald, MO

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There were shockwaves in the small town of Gerald, Missouri, after the indictment of a man pretending to be a Federal Officer.

Many residents claim police abuses -- including allegations that police took prescription drugs from sick patients.

The FOX Files investigated how this 'fake officer' ploy got so far.

Gerald resident Kyle Story said several officers, along with Bill Jakob, who's accused of impersonating a federal agent -- tried getting him to admit something that wasn't true.

Story said, "They kept saying they'd found stuff, but they couldn't ever show nothing."

Reporter Chris Hayes followed up, "Did you have marijuana in there?"

Story responded, "No."

Story said police forced him to sit in the back of a squad car "and they took me to two other people's houses that they raided when nobody was home."

Then he said officers chained him to a chair for hours -- alone in a room full of evidence.

Story said they had "...marijuana. They had pipes and bongs and papers."

Reporter Chris Hayes asked, "Money?"

Story said, "Yeah... They all had it in one bag. They didn't have it in individual bags or nothing."

It's one of many horror stories according to attorney Dan Briegel, who told us Gerald Police even took prescription drugs from his clients.

Briegel told us, "They were legitimate prescriptions and it's our belief they were disposed of by the police in other ways. They were never found. In fact, none of evidence -- or quote unquote evidence -- including money taken from my clients was ever found. It's gone.

We tried contacting Gerald's former Police Chief, who was not available for comment. The city fired him and two other officers. And the U.S. Attorney's Office indicted Bill Jakob for impersonating an officer while raiding homes with Gerald Police. People want to know how this happened. Gerald Mayor We tracked down Gerald Mayor Otis Schulte who said. "...can't talk about it. [Reporter asked] why did you guys give this guy a badge? [Gerald Mayor] We didn't. [Hayes] He had a Gerald [police] badge. [Mayor] I can't talk about it. Our attorney advised us not to talk about it."

Off camera -- he admitted -- the City Hired jakob as an 8 hour a week Reserve Officer and even gave him a police badge. The Mayor said it wasn't so easy to find out Jakob wasn't an officer.

Gasconade County Republican newspaper reporter Linda Trest discovered Jakob was not a real officer with one phone call to the Franklin County Sheriff's Office after witnessing a raid of Pharmacist Michael Hinson's home.

Michael Hinson told us, "I really can't say anything you can talk to my lawyer."

Trest reported that Federal Officers were looking for evidence of a m*th lab in the pharmacist's house.

Chris Hayes asked Hinson, "You're back in business? [Hinson] Yeah I never was out of business."

Hinson, who operates a pharmacy in the back of a Gerald grocery store, told us no one's ever charged him.

Chris Hayes asked, "Did they find m*th in your house? {Hinson] ...can't tell you nothing."

Many potential criminal cases in Franklin County -- seem to have disappeared. Prosecuting Attorney Bob Parks told me he had to stop pursuing 13 criminal cases because of allegations involving Gerald Police. It's not clear if Hinson's case is one of those. Parks said it would likely be a Federal Case, but the Feds would not confirm a case involving Hinson. Parks said he had to drop two other cases in which he'd already filed charges.

Bill Jakob's attorney, Joel Schwartz said he and his client are cooperating with the U.S. attorney in its ongoing investigation.

He told me his client does not dispute all of the charges, but that Jakob's pleading not guilty to many of the counts.


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