Second KC-area village elected official arrested, accused of filing false voter document
An elected official in a Jackson County village surrendered to authorities late last week, becoming the second current or former River Bend official arrested and indicted on election-related charges.
James Hoppe, a village board member who was reelected this fall by winning a tie-breaker drawing, was arraigned on Thursday and was released after posting 10% of his $15,000 bond. He faces two felony counts of providing false voter documentation, identical charges to his wife, Jessica Caswell, a former village board member who was arrested late last month.
The indictments and arrests of Caswell and Hoppe come on the heels of an October investigation by The Star that revealed a series of connections between River Bend’s Board of Trustees, which operates similar to a city council, and Jack Mitchell, an influential marijuana businessman and developer of a proposed marijuana-based entertainment district.
River Bend, a tiny village east of Kansas City, features a loose, business-friendly culture but was largely unknown by many in the metro. Village business owners had voiced concerns about the board’s legitimacy and questioned whether some of the members had lived there long enough to be elected officials.
A Jackson County grand jury indicted both Caswell and Hoppe on Dec. 15, court records show. But while Caswell was arrested on Dec. 29, Hoppe did not surrender to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office until last Thursday.
Hoppe was charged with one count of willfully providing false voter documentation, a Class One election offense punishable by up to five years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines. He also faces one count of filing false documents, a Class D felony punishable by up to seven years in jail and $10,000 in fines.
The indictment alleges that Hoppe knowingly signed documentation stating that he met the statutory qualifications of a candidate, even though he did not meet the residency requirement.
A copy of the indictment available online redacts the name of the village of River Bend, but alleges that Hoppe was not a resident of the village for at least a year before running to be on the board. Missouri law requires that trustee members be inhabitants of a village for at least one year before they are elected, an issue The Star previously highlighted.
Hoppe and Caswell had previously submitted documents to the Jackson County Election Board showing their residence along a highway that slices through River Bend. A village stakeholder previously told The Star this property housed two trailers.
Court records show that an initial arrest warrant for Hoppe, dated Dec. 18, was withdrawn the same day because it was sent to the wrong law enforcement agency.
Hoppe’s bond conditions include a requirement that he has to wear a GPS monitor and cannot be within 100 feet of the village city hall and village documents. He’s also barred from voting as a board member and contacting other board members other than Caswell.
Hoppe did not respond to a call for comment on Tuesday.
Village officials have remained silent on the charges facing two of its current and former board members. Amy Howse, the village clerk and daughter of Mitchell, the marijuana-district developer, has not responded to several emails and calls seeking comment.
Mitchell also did not respond to a call for comment.
In August, a group of village stakeholders wrote a letter to the village government, raising a series of questions about the board and its relationship to Mitchell. The letter, which does not name Mitchell specifically, refers to him as the “Principal.”
“The municipality is run by people who are on the Principal’s payroll through his affiliated companies, receive no compensation for their duties as government officials (with the exception of the Village Clerk), and have no experience in local government,” the letter said.
Mitchell withdrew his redevelopment plans for the village just days after The Star inquired about how he was related either familiarly or professionally to every member of the village board, including Caswell and Hoppe. The village’s head of zoning resigned a day after the newspaper published the story about those connections.
Mitchell is also a former member of the board of directors for MoCannTrade, the state’s primary marijuana industry organization. Two companies connected to Mitchell — BesaMe Wellness and Besa Hospitality Group — are represented at the Missouri Capitol by several lobbyists, including Steve Tilley, a powerful former Missouri House speaker turned lobbyist.
This story was originally published January 9, 2024 at 11:15 AM.
