Former Monroe County public administrator facing 34 charges for forgery, stealing returned to jail

PARIS, Mo. — A bond reduction hearing is scheduled for Wednesday for a former public administrator in Monroe County facing 34 counts for forgery, stealing and financial exploitation. 

Jessica Chase is scheduled to appear in Monroe County Circuit Court with attorney Sheri Nelson in a video conference with Monroe County Prosecuting Attorney Nicole Volkert and Judge Rick Roberts. 

A warrant to return Chase to the Randolph County Jail was issued by Roberts on June 16 and bond was set at $150,000 after a hearing on Volkert’s motion to revoke bond.

Chase was released from detention on Nov. 6 and placed on house arrest at her home. She was not allowed to leave her home except to deal with medical care for herself or her minor children, and she was placed on electronic monitoring. Roberts then ruled on April 2 that Chase was to be allowed to work in her yard and plant a garden at her home in Paris, Mo., and attend church services in Sante Fe, Mo.

Volkert filed her motion to revoke bond on June 12. She said Chase had started a home-based laundry business involving cash payments and tips while routinely interacting with the public, and she was advertising her business on social media. 

Volkert also wrote that Chase had been “encouraging and inviting” customers to seek her advice on becoming a foster parent — “a role which necessarily involves managing funds on behalf of other individuals not legally competent to do so for themselves,” she wrote.

“(The) defendant’s actions indicate a complete disregard for the conditions of her bond and demonstrate a lack of appreciation for the severity of charges she is facing,” Volkert wrote in her motion. 

Chase was arrested on June 10, 2024, by the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control. She was charged with:

• Three counts of financial exploitation of an elder/disabled person, a Class E felony punishable for up to four years in the Missouri Department of Corrections or one year in jail;
• Two counts of fraudulent use of a credit/debit device, also a Class E felony;
• Three counts of financial exploitation of an elder/disabled person, a Class D felony punishable for up to seven years in the DOC or one year in jail;
• Seven counts of filing false documents, also a Class D felony;
• 12 counts of felony stealing $750 or more, also a Class D felony;
• Six counts of forgery, also a Class D felony;
• One count of money laundering, a Class B felony punishable for between five and 15 years in the DOC.