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Potosi police officer charged with child sex crimes, police chief says

Officer Matthew Skaggs resigned as a Potosi police officer. He's now facing multiple charges in connection with alleged child sex crimes.

POTOSI, Mo. — The Potosi police chief said an officer in his department resigned this week and is now facing multiple charges for suspected child sex crimes.

According to a press release from the department, former officer Matthew Skaggs was arrested Wednesday and was charged with statutory sodomy, enticement or attempted enticement of a child under the age of 15 and endangering the welfare of a child.

In the press release, Chief Michael Gum said he was contacted by a person reporting misconduct by a police officer Tuesday night. During the conversation, Gum said it became clear that the misconduct was criminal in nature, so he handed the investigation over to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

The highway patrol started an investigation. Hours later, Skaggs was arrested and taken to the Washington County Jail.

Gum said Skaggs resigned his position and surrendered his peace officers license.

"I want to assure the community that we take all allegations against police officers seriously, and we hold our officers to a high standard," Gum said in the press release. "Honesty and transparency are at the core of our agency and shall be upheld."

The Missouri State Highway Patrol is expected to provide more information about the investigation in a press release in the next day or so.

Credit: Washington County Jail
Former officer Matthew Skaggs was arrested Wednesday and was charged with statutory sodomy and multiple other crimes.

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