By Chris Oberholtz, Multimedia
Producer
By DeAnn Smith, Digital Content
Manager
By Jamie Oberg, News Reporter
CHILLICOTHE, MO (KCTV) –
A Chillicothe police officer
already in trouble with the law now faces some serious allegations.
There are 9,000 people in
Chillicothe served by a police department of 20. With only 15 of those on
street patrols, the recent loss of four experienced officers has put a strain
on staffing and raised eyebrows over the reasons behind the staff shortage.
"Any time you have people
leave who have 10 years, 15 years, 20 years in the department," said City
Administrator Ike Holland, "you lose that history and experience, so it
impacts the department."
The Livingston County
Prosecutor's Office has charged Brent Allen Schade with first-degree forcible
rape and first-degree forcible sodomy.
His 20-year-old girlfriend,
Amanda Nicole Gault, was charged with forcible sodomy. She was taken into
custody on Thursday.
Schade was placed on unpaid
leave in January after he was issued misdemeanor citations for hindering
prosecution and tampering with physical evidence.
The Chillicothe Police
Department said they began investigating after receiving a report that a
20-year-old had been physically assaulted.The victim went to the hospital for treatment.
Authorities said the attack
occurred starting March 3 and continued into the early morning hours of March 4
at a residence in the 300 block of Cherry Street.
The victim said she had gone to
the residence and drank hard liquor and beer with the two suspects, according
to court documents. She said at one point they slipped something that smelled
and tasted like perfume. After that, she said, she lost control. She said at
that point is when they sexually assaulted her, prosecutors say.
A 16-year-old boy was passed
out at the home and the woman tried to get his help to no avail, according to
court records. The woman said she tried to call 911 but that Gault slapped the
phone from her hands.
According to court records, the
woman said the attack only ended when she vomited all over the bed and bedroom.
Schade and Gault are being held
in the Daviess Dekalb County Regional Jail. Their bond is set at $50,000 each
and they were ordered not to have any contact with the victim.
Because Schade is a police
officer, the Livingston Prosecutor Adam Warren handed the case over to Caldwell
County Prosecutor Brady Kopek.
"It leaves a mark on law
enforcement. If law enforcement is cut, we all bleed," Warren said.
"My belief is I would be harder on him."
But he said some members of the
public might wonder whether he would be too lenient. He said it was best for
him to withdraw from the case.
Warren will handle the
prosecution of Gault.
