Iron County Sheriff, Deputies Charged

Sheriff Jeff Burkett

Deputy Chase Bresnahan

Deputy Matthew Cozad

Donald R. Gaston

On Thursday, March 16, the Iron County Sheriff, two deputies, and an Ironton resident were arrested and charged with multiple crimes. They are all in jail and high bond amounts have been set. They have been charged with multiple crimes including street gang activities, misusing 911, stalking, making a false report, looking up criminal records under false pretense and attempted kidnapping.

The Missouri Highway Patrol is now assisting with policing duties in the county and all of men have been booked into the Washington County jail. Sheriff Jeff Burkett, Deputy Chase Bresnahan, Deputy Matt Cozad and Donald “Rick” Gaston are among those charged. They were arraigned at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in Washington County Court.

County Clerk Marsha Womble referred all questions to the Highway Patrol. The newspaper had asked when an interim sheriff, she said no decision had been made and all information needs to go through the Highway Patrol. State law states that when a sheriff is unable to serve that the county coroner fills the vacancy. Tim Harbison is the current coroner.

The Missouri Highway Patrol conducted the investigation, according to court documents.

According to probable cause affidavits, the charges stem from a domestic incident between Gaston and the mother of his children on Feb. 8. According to documents, he was “physically aggressive” with the woman. Court documents allege that between February 10 and 11, Burkett, Gaston, Gresnahan and Cozad tried to help Gaston kidnap his daughter following a domestic incident involving Gaston and the mother of that child.

The men allegedly made a fake request for the detention and arrest of the mother of the child to the Washington County 911 dispatch center to help facilitate the kidnapping of the child, according to the documents.

The men are also accused of putting a fake “stop and hold” instruction on the child’s mother’s record, so if any police officer stopped her, she would be detained. The men are also accused of getting the mother and daughter’s real-time location by fraudulently obtaining a ping from their cellphones. Gaston then used that information to go to a location in Jefferson County where they were seeking “refuge” from him, according to the documents.

The sheriff is accused of obtaining criminal history information under false pretense by telling Washington County 911 dispatchers that the child’s mother had kidnapped her daughter, was intoxicated and that the child had been injured.

When trying to locate the child’s mother, one of the dispatchers asked Burkett some follow-up questions. Burkett responded by saying it was being done at Gaston’s request, and the dispatcher said he could hear another man’s voice saying the same thing, “as if the unidentified male was telling Burkett what to say” according to court documents.

The sheriff is also accused of misusing emergency telephone services for making repeated calls to 911 for nonemergency situations, causing operators or equipment to be in use when emergency situations may have needed such operators or equipment, according to the documents.

The sheriff also allegedly caused a false report to be made to Washington County 911 Dispatch that a parental kidnapping had occurred and that the child’s life was in danger because of her mother’s actions, according to court documents.

Burkett was charged with:

• participating knowingly in criminal street gang activities
• conspiracy to commit Class A/B/C felonies
• first-degree attempted kidnapping
• second-degree stalking
• obtaining criminal history info under false pretenses
• misusing 911
• and making a false report

Bresnahan was charged with

• participating knowingly in criminal street gang activities
• two counts of conspiracy to commit Class A/B/C felonies
• first-degree stalking
• second-degree stalking
• obtaining criminal history info under false pretenses
• and misusing 911

Cozad was charged with:

• participating knowingly in criminal street gang activities
• two counts of conspiracy to commit Class A/B/C felonies
• first-degree stalking
• second-degree stalking
• and misusing 911

Gaston was charged with:

• participating knowingly in criminal street gang activities
• attempted parental kidnapping
• conspiracy to commit Class A/B/C felonies
• first-degree stalking
• second-degree stalking
• making a false report

Burkett is being held on a $500,000 cash-only  bond, and the three others are being held on $400,000 bonds. A bond reduction hearing is slated for 10 a.m. March 22 in Washing County Court.

Casenet said that Burkett is not to be released without a GPS monitoring device in place. Until the case is settled in court, he cannot serve as Iron County Sheriff or as a law enforcement office in any capacity. He is also prohibited from possession firearms. He cannot have any contact with any of the state’s witnesses, victims, or witnesses which may be involved in any future prosecutions from other jurisdictions. He is also prohibited from photographing any witnesses, victims or future witnesses.