Every elected official in KC-area town last year was arrested — except the man ‘behind it’
Over the past year, a criminal investigation roiled a small municipality east of Kansas City – a sliver of Jackson County called River Bend.
Every official who sat on the village’s five-person elected board last year now faces charges, accused of filing false election-related documents. They’re alleged to have not lived in River Bend long enough to run for office.
But local business owners are still waiting for the man they say is at the center of it all to be held accountable.
Jack Mitchell, an influential marijuana businessman and developer of a proposed entertainment district in the village, was connected to every member of the board either professionally or through family. Village stakeholders alleged Mitchell had effectively taken control of the municipality through his ties to the board, a 2023 investigation by The Star revealed.
“I mean, he’s the guy behind it,” said Brandon Decker, who owns a trucking business in River Bend. “I think he definitely, you know, should be held accountable.”
Mitchell did not return multiple calls for comment for this story.
Amid the criminal investigation, Mitchell is now involved in a series of dueling lawsuits between investors and his marijuana company, called BesaMe. The investors allege Mitchell used the company “as his personal piggy bank.” But the company alleges one of the investors is trying to sabotage an impending asset sale.
But Mitchell’s problems haven’t stopped there as state investigators have also launched a probe into the village board and its connections to Mitchell. The Missouri Auditor’s Office began investigating the village over the summer after receiving a whistleblower complaint alleging nepotism and conflicts of interest, according to a letter from the Auditor’s Office provided to The Star.
State lawmakers are also taking notice with presumptive incoming House Speaker Jonathan Patterson, a Lee’s Summit Republican, saying in a statement that he and his colleagues are weighing how to reestablish “the public trust in River Bend.”
All told, the investigations, arrests and lawsuits have left the business owners in the sparsely-populated village seeking answers. They want to know what will happen to Mitchell and, more importantly for some, what the future of the village will look like.
Jeremy Alexander, who owns a rock and mulch company in River Bend, said most business owners don’t care whether the tiny village is ultimately incorporated into another city in Jackson County. They just want the current government out.
Alexander predicted Mitchell will eventually face accountability.
“There’s a lot of frustration there but I’m sure it will come,” he said. “We’re just kind of waiting.”
Who is Jack Mitchell?
The tiny village of River Bend had for years fostered a loose, business-friendly culture that attracted industrial warehouses and businesses.
While serving as a business hotspot, the number of people actually living there has been a source of controversy — ranging anywhere from three people to 11.
The little-known village’s problems appear to have started with a proposed development from Mitchell, a businessman, attorney and former board member of MoCannTrade, the state’s powerful marijuana industry group.
Mitchell, in late 2022, announced plans for a massive marijuana-friendly entertainment district in the village called Smokey River Entertainment District. The plans were ambitious — an amphitheater, food and drink spots — but recently the area was used as festival grounds and hosted celebrities like Ric Flair, Wiz Khalifa and Mike Tyson.
Local business owners raised concerns about the people who started taking spots on the village board — all of them were either members of Mitchell’s family or connected to his business ventures. They worried about conflicts between the board’s decisions and Mitchell’s business.
Mitchell withdrew his plans last year, just days after The Star inquired about his connections to the village board. The village’s head of zoning resigned a day after the newspaper published the story about those connections.
Then, over the past year, every elected official who sat on the board was arrested. The officials, Jessica Caswell, James Hoppe, Alex Hill, David Hill and Tracy Dockler, each face charges alleging they filed false documentation related to their residencies within the village.
Their attorneys did not respond to requests for comment.
Decker, who owns the trucking business in River Bend, said he thinks that Mitchell should also be held accountable. But he appeared skeptical.
“He’s not dumb. He’s an attorney,” Decker said. “He understands the law. So he puts all of these people, you know, out on the forefront that, in my opinion, are gonna, you know, take the hit from his actions, so to speak.”
‘Personal piggy bank.’
Lacing the concerns surrounding River Bend, Mitchell is now involved in litigation between his company and a group of investors.
Mitchell’s BesaMe sued one of the investors, called Good Buds LLC, in October, alleging that the company was trying to sabotage an impending sale.
Last month, Good Buds, along with several other investors, sued Mitchell accusing him of broad misuse of funds and using the company as his “personal piggy bank.” And then this week, another company filed suit against Mitchell’s BesaMe related to the impending sale of assets.
Maxwell Nelson, an attorney representing BesaMe, said that all of the lawsuits were connected and could be described as a “hostile takeover attempt” by investors.
“All of this really relates to an effort by a small group of investors to get control of a very successful company at a depressed price,” Nelson said. “And so what I am tasked with as company counsel is to help to protect the interests of all of the full membership, and not just those who are seeking, who may want to try to obtain control of the company for themselves.”
State investigation
As investigators probe the village, the controversies surrounding River Bend have also caught the attention of officials in Missouri’s capital city.
Over the summer, an investigator with the Missouri Auditor’s Office sent a letter to Alex Hill, the chair of the River Bend board, announcing an investigation into a whistleblower complaint. The June 17 letter demanded a slew of documents from the village, including its conflict of interest policies, invoices for police and legal services and bank statements.
“The complainant is concerned that there is an appearance of or actual nepotism and/or a conflict of interest as the Village Clerk and members of the Board of Trustees are all relatives and employees of BesaMe owner/operator Jack Mitchell, who has requested economic development incentives for his development of Smokey River Entertainment from the Board,” the letter said.
Trevor Fox, a spokesperson for the office, said the investigation was still ongoing and he could not provide further comment.
Whether state lawmakers will get involved is still unclear. Rep-elect Mike Steinmeyer, a Sugar Creek Republican, was recently elected to represent River Bend’s district in the Missouri House.
Steinmeyer said he heard from business owners concerned about the village’s operations while on the campaign trail.
“They were not real happy,” he said. “I think they would always call him kind of the power broker, it was the one individual.”
Ahead of the upcoming legislative session, Steinmeyer said some business owners had requested he bring the issues of River Bend to the attention of lawmakers. He said he would have to speak to Patterson, the presumptive incoming House speaker.
“I think we might have the ability to get more traction or attention on these concerns where we may not have had the same love for this side of the state,” Steinmeyer said, referring to the fact that Patterson is from the Kansas City area.
Patterson, in a statement, said the news out of River Bend was “deeply disturbing.” He said he and his colleagues were “exploring options to reestablish the public trust in River Bend.”
For Decker, the trucking business owner, what happens next for River Bend is the “million dollar question.”
He mulled over several options, including annexation into another city and finding other officials to serve on the board.
“I don’t know. I think it’s just kind of an unorthodox scenario,” he said. “We just run dump trucks. I don’t know how to run a city.”
This story was originally published December 19, 2024 at 11:02 AM.
