This is the third column about Missouri’s Taum Sauk disaster recovery money. Read the first and second columns on .
POTOSI, Mo. — Scott Rosenblum was in his element, standing in the second-floor courtroom of the Washington County Courthouse. The noted ºüÀêÊÓƵ criminal defense lawyer was trying to pick apart a prosecutor’s case — and then he offered a tease about a conspiracy theory.
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Rosenblum’s client, a wealthy Iron County rancher named Donald “Rick†Gaston, stands accused of leading a “criminal street gang†stemming from a child custody dispute. The case in southeast Missouri has drawn extra attention because Iron County’s sheriff and two of his deputies have also been charged in the case.
The charges, Rosenblum told the Washington County judge, are rooted in “underlying stuff between these deputies and other officials.â€
Rosenblum didn’t elaborate. But Sheriff Jeff Burkett’s lawyer, who was in the courtroom that day, caught the reference. He says he knows exactly what the “underlying stuff†is — and that it ties back to Missouri’s Taum Sauk disaster recovery money and the folks overseeing it.
The lawyer, Gabe Crocker, wrote me in a text message: “I can confirm Sheriff Burkett had initiated a preliminary investigation into two separate matters involving possible criminal and ethical wrongdoing by several Iron County elected officials.â€
As my recent columns have documented, nearly $3 million in state money has been drained over the past year in Iron County. The money was supposed to help the area recover from the 2005 Taum Sauk flooding disaster that badly damaged Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park and surrounding land. The money was overseen by the Iron County Economic Partnership (ICEP), and much of it went to people tied to board members or companies owned by those members. Several of the transactions appear to violate Internal Revenue Service rules. Expenditures from previous years have also raised questions.
Erich Jett, a consultant who once worked for ICEP, has filed several whistleblower complaints with the Missouri attorney general’s office and the IRS about spending by ICEP board members.
In late 2022, he filed his latest complaint with Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey. He also handed over his files to Sheriff Roger Medley, and then to the man who replaced him as sheriff, Jeff Burkett.
Burkett had to survive a Republican primary fight against Medley. He initially won, but a judge overturned the election after Medley sued, alleging irregularities over absentee ballots and other issues. Burkett then won a second time, after a new election, and became sheriff after the general election in November 2022.
Not long after, Jett gave his files to Burkett. Jett’s files contain questions about years of transactions by the ICEP board. During most of the time those transactions took place, the ICEP board was being advised by Brian Parker, a local attorney who’s now the Iron County prosecutor.
“Sheriff Burkett was taking it seriously,†Jett said. “Not long after that, he was in jail. It’s a small town and weird stuff happens.â€
Burkett had also turned over the file to the FBI, according to his lawyer.
Conspiracy theories abound in Iron County — about Burkett’s election win, about the Taum Sauk money, about connections (real or not) between the two. And defense attorneys are supposed to try to sow doubt.
What we know for certain is this: Burkett, his deputies and Gaston have been charged by Washington County Prosecuting Attorney John Jones for events on Feb. 10. That’s when the men are accused of tracking Gaston’s ex-girlfriend and the 5-year-old daughter they share because he had custody of the child. The charges include attempted kidnapping and stalking.
“That this is somehow a legitimate law enforcement action is insane,†Jones said in a recent hearing. “This is conspiratorial behavior. This is organized crime.â€
Burkett has been removed from office. He may have been on to something regarding ICEP and its spending. Regardless, his arrest overshadowed the Taum Sauk controversy and added another layer of confusion.
Today, the county has no elected sheriff. The recently deposed sheriff is facing a “criminal street gang†charge that reads like a movie plot. And a fund meant to boost the area’s economic prospects is nearly empty, with plenty of questionable spending.
Welcome to Iron County, where “weird stuff happens.â€
Like the Taum Sauk collapse in 2005, it’s a man-made disaster several years in the making.