Why are Missouri Sheriffs Given More Power Than Federal Agents?
Signals Intelligence is supposed to be limited to the NSA or FBI search warrants. Why did Missouri's rural jail employees have that capability?
Cory Hutcheson was elected Sheriff of Mississippi County, Missouri, after which he went on a Federal and state crime spree. After felonious acts that would be tantamount to espionage if committed by a foreign national, Trump-selected U.S. Attorney and St. Louis legal insider Jeff Jensen allowed Sheriff Hutcheson to plead out to only two of twenty-eight Federal charges of creating an illegal technological surveillance regime. Hutcheson spent twenty-six weeks in low-security prison, then returned back home and immediately began asking for probation to be cut short and the terms of his release eased so he could enjoy crossbow hunting with his family.
Hutchenson’s term as Jail Supervisor is reportedly even more monstrous. A woman in his jail was denied medical care during a stillbirth, featuring grotesque alleged details I shall spare the reader. Mississippi County and Hutcheson fought the woman’s Federal civil suit right up until Hutcheson was indicted in the Eastern District of Missouri, at which point the parties settled within days.
(Ed. Note: Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt declined to prosecute Hutcheson when they were Attorneys General, but these are guys who looked the other way on slavery and the torture of children, so I guess that’s no surprise.)
The Federal Government then revealed that in addition to allegedly brutalizing the public, Hutcheson was engaged in a high-tech spying regime.
Why was the public not more informed about the use of state and private resources to execute the kind of aggressive surveillance one associates more with the Chinese, Russian, or Israeli militaries?
Rural jailers can conduct their own FISA-type surveillance against Americans—on U.S. soil
On August 17, 2018, Hutcheson was accused in a 28-count Federal superseding indictment of using a company called “Securus” to conduct thousands of searches of the locations of individuals on U.S. soil by surveilling their personal cell phones—including law enforcement officials and at least one judge.
Cory Hutcheson was Mississippi County Sheriff when he was indicted—but he was not elected to that position until 2016. The Federal Government alleged that Hutcheson conducted thousands of searches while he was still Jail Supervisor.
Hutcheson, after being a Sheriff’s Deputy in a rural Bootheel county but not yet an elected law enforcement official, was given access to software offered by Dallas-based Securus Technologies, using which he was able to put in anyone’s cell number and track their whereabouts.
Now, if you want that kind of location-based surveillance as a Fed, you have to fill out gigantic affidavits and put them before a Federal judge. As a Federal agent, you must use the least invasive means possible—even in national security cases!
With Securus, what does the local jailer need for that awesome surveillance power?
A copy of his car insurance. The system didn’t know the difference. Think I’m exaggerating? It’s in the Superseder.
Unsigned and invalid search warrants, incidentally, are a form of identity theft of a judge. He apparently had committed thousands of these crimes.
And yet U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen allowed him to plead out to two counts and get a few weeks in a minimum-security FCI.
What was really going on here? How many local state employees have more power to conduct searches than the FBI?
And…is this why Trump had so much support from Sheriffs?
After all, Missouri sheriff’s deputies are also involved in child trafficking. And not just on a limited basis.
So why did U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen go so easy on these guys?
Additional questions about Securus and Missouri linger
St. Louis County, which has a jail where people die and no records are kept, also has a relationship with this Securus Technologies. Probably a little too close, in fact. St. Louis County Executive Sam Page’s chief of staff, Winston Calvert, was a lobbyist for Securus before joining the county government, which then chose Securus as a vendor in a matter that has received quite a bit of scrutiny.
One of St. Louis County’s senior jail executives, Tony Weaver, of course pleaded guilty to felonies in connection with a Palestinian drug trafficker.
This raises a lot of questions about who Securus is, what they’re up to, who owns them, and why they’ve permitted a bunch of scroungy criminals to have more power than many Federal agencies.
Also, it makes you wonder who would benefit from their other products, which allow the intercept of the communications of incarcerated individuals!
Stay tuned!