Lawless in Lanagan, The Missouri town without a police force
By: Jonathan Bender
If you don't pay your traffic tickets, your car might get the boot. If a city apparently stiffs the state, it could lose its police force.
The two men who make up the police department in Lanagan, Missouri (three hours south of Kansas City), have been charged with forging traffic ticket documents. Police Chief Larry Marsh and officer Michael Gallhue were arrested last week by the Missouri Highway Patrol. In November 2011, the office of state auditor Thomas Schweich issued the results of an audit, which discovered "missing funds" and what was termed routine violations of "Macks Creek Law." The town apparently failed to send excess funds (estimated at $36,000) collected on speeding tickets to the state for distribution to local schools. The report asserts that the police department then filed false Missouri Vehicle Stops Annual Reports with the attorney general's office to hide that money.
A grand jury in McDonald County indicted the two officers for felony forgery. Marsh has been charged with five counts of felony forgery and altering a racial profiling report, while Gallhue faces two charges of felony forgery. The Missouri Highway Patrol then arrested the two men, who have been suspended without pay. The McDonald County Sheriff's Office has taken over the law enforcement duties in Lanagan.
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