ST. LOUIS — Bill A. Jakob, an imposter who allegedly led warrantless drug searches and made arrests with Gerald police in April posted a $50,000 bond Thursday afternoon following the release of grand jury indictments against him and a court appearance at the Thomas Eagleton Federal Courthouse in St. Louis.

Jakob made no comments as he left the courthouse with his attorney. He had turned himself in to federal authorities that morning in advance of the public release of a 23-count federal grand jury indictment issued against him. In court proceedings Thursday, Jakob was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation (see story in the Gerald section for additional details on the court proceedings).

Nearly two months to the day since an investigation published by The Republican revealed Jakob was not a licensed Missouri lawman or the federal drug task force investigator he claimed to be, a federal grand jury in St. Louis issued a “true bill” indicting  him on felony charges alleging he presented himself in Gerald as a law enforcement officer from three different federal agencies.

The indictment, announced at around 2:20 p.m. July 10 by U.S. Attorney Catherine L. Hanaway, included a surprise twist for media members who have been covering the case since early May.

The indictment also alleges Bill Anthony Jakob created two fictitious female U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contracting employees (Terri Morstatter and Lisa Kennedy) and fraudulently used a Hotmail e-mail address and the U.S. Postal Service to defraud his employer, Total Lock & Security Co., of Maryland Heights, Mo., out of nearly a half million dollars.

Investigators believe he concocted the sham to earn a promotion. Total Lock, thinking it had been awarded legitimate U.S. government contracts, purchased these specialized, high-end electronic door locksets from a supplier to fill the sham contracts, the indictment alleges.

A shipment of 564 of the locksets, worth $91,847, was made to a Corps facility in Memphis, Tenn. It was an order no one at the Corps placed. The indictment also alleges that on Dec. 21, 2007, Jakob used an expired VISA credit card in an attempt for “Total Lock to obtain the sales proceeds relative to the sham lockset sale.”

Investigators learned the card had been issued to Jakob while he served in the Missouri National Guard. He lied on his job application with Total Lock by stating he had earned an E-8 first sergeants rank when he retired in January 2007 from the U.S. Army. The indictment states he had actually been a member of the Missouri National Guard and was given an “other than honorable discharge” in June of 2006 with an E-1 rank.

According to the first four counts of the indictment, between July 2007 and January 2008 Jakob used the false identities and fake purchase orders he created to “falsely represent to Total Lock that he had negotiated three separate contracts for electronic locksets (sold) to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Based on Jakob’s false representations, Total Lock believed it was entering into several contracts with the Corps of Engineers valued at approximately $500,000.”

Jakob was fired from the firm in January 2008

From the Total Lock investigation, conducted by the Department of Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Jakob is accused of one felony count each of wire and mail fraud (Counts 1 and 2). He is also charged with two felony counts of false personation for pretending to be, through his fictitious female e-mail correspondences, an employee of the U.S. Corps of Engineers (Counts 3 and 4). This investigation had not been made public prior to Hanaway’s press conference and the public release of the grand jury’s true bill indictment.

Jakob’s scam at Total Lock ended only a few months before he would descend on the Gerald community where the indictment alleges he posed as a federal agent and misrepresented himself as a lawman from at least three different federal agencies including the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Multi-Jurisdictional Narcotics Task Force of the Department of Justice, and as a U.S. Marshal.

Counts five through 22 of the indictment, all felonies, allege Jakob “did falsely assume and pretend to be an officer and employee of the United States” while either conducting illegal searches of homes in and around Gerald in late April or making actual arrests without being a legitimate lawman. In some of the counts, he is charged with both illegal searches and illegal arrests.

“He was just a plague in this community,” said Hanaway. “This was one rogue guy just out there cowboying it.”

Lawmen from the FBI, Missouri State Highway Patrol, and Franklin County Sheriff’s Department questioned “upwards of 40” area residents during their six-week long investigation. Their investigation concluded in late June and was reviewed by federal prosecutors in the U.S. District Attorney’s Office before being presented this week to the grand jury.

Federal officials said more charges could be filed pending the outcome of their investigation which continues. The indictments to date cover alleged illegal searches of nine residents including one outside the city limits of Gerald. Those incidents are covered in counts 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, and 21 of the indictment and are listed as “false personation involving a residential search.”

Eight of the felony charges are alleged to involve “false personation involving an arrest” and are cited in counts 5, 7, 9, 11, 16, 17, 20, and 22. Count 19 of the indictment alleges police illegally detained a resident identified by the initials A.B. Count 23 of the indictment alleges Jakob lied to the FBI when he was asked if he ever told anyone he was a member of the Department of Justice’s “Multi-Jurisdictional Narcotics Task Force when, in truth, and in fact, he had on numerous prior occasions.”

Once the story reached the national media outlets, several television reports were critical of the length of time it took to bring charges against the imposter. Local media outlets, however, were kept apprised of the investigation on a regular basis.

“Real police work takes time,” said Sgt. Jason Grellner, commander of the county’s Narcotics Enforcement Unit which spearheaded the county’s portion of the investigation. “You can’t just go around kicking in people’s doors all day long. You have to do the police work.”

Beginning on May 12, FBI, Missouri State Highway Patrol, and Franklin County Sheriff’s Department investigators initially spent several days in the Gerald police station conducting an inventory of evidence on hand and reviewing police files. Investigators returned to the station the following week and spent several days there interviewing area residents who claimed their rights had been violated. Grellner said the three agencies then had to compare statements made by the multitude of victims and witnesses and turn that information into one report for the U.S District Attorney to review.

Jakob had been appointed May 8 by the Board of Aldermen as a reserve officer and carried a sergeant’s badge issued by the city. Earlier that week, while police were searching the home of a man arrested in connection with a city drug investigation, The Republican’s Linda Trest was attempting to photograph the scene from the edge of a public roadway.

Jakob confronted her telling her she could not take any photographs of the house or police cars parked at the scene.

His actions that day prompted this newspaper’s investigation into his true identity since he refused to identify himself when Trest asked him his name. Prior to that incident, in late April, Trest began receiving telephone calls from area residents concerned that a rogue police officer may be working with city police.

Their stories included allegations of illegal entries of their homes, searches without warrants, and unlawful detention following raids.

After the press conference, Hanaway told The Republican that statements made by numerous area residents who encountered Jakob and Gerald police during these raids in late April were “fairly consistent” when compared to each other. Although their individual experiences differed, those detained illegally or who had their homes entered and searched without a court-ordered search warrant all shared similar experiences, she said.

The Republican reported on May 14 that federal, state, and county investigators found no evidence at the Gerald police station that any search warrants had been obtained during the string of raids in late April. The tally of carnage in the wake of Jakob’s brief tenure in Gerald is staggering.

• Three police officers, including the city’s chief, Ryan McCrary, lost their jobs following a more than five-hour long closed session on May 13.

 • Seventeen area residents to date have filed federal lawsuits, in two separate suits, claiming their civil rights were violated by Gerald police and the imposter. Lawyers for each of the two groups seek jury trials.

• Eleven of the plaintiffs, all part of the same lawsuit, are seeking up to $11 million each between actual and punitive damages.

• A Franklin County Sheriff’s Department jailer was suspended and then later dismissed from his duties for helping Jakob transport a Gerald police suspect to a federal jail in St. Louis.

• A third lawsuit is anticipated. A male subject being questioned by police was left handcuffed to a bench at the police station when Jakob and city police rushed out of the building and left the premises with lights and sirens activated on their squad cars, according to the young man’s mother. Evidence in another room was also left unattended, the mother said. At least two elected city officials walked through the police station and saw the young man cuffed to the bench, the mother told The Republican.

If convicted, Jakob could face up to 20 years in federal prison on each  felony charge of wire and mail fraud, and/or up to a $250,000 fine. Each count of false impersonation carries a maximum sentence of up to three years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine. Making a false statement is punishable by up to five years in prison and/or fines up to $250,000. Jakob is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty, noted Hanaway in a press release.