The Texas County sheriff and a chief deputy were arrested Wednesday evening, the Missouri State Highway Patrol confirmed.
Sheriff James Sigman, 48, and Jennifer H. Tomaszewski, 38, were arrested by members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol after their indictment by a grand jury. A special prosecutor is assigned to the case.
Sigman, a Eunice resident, is charged with first-degree felony assault, first-degree robbery, felony first-degree endangering the welfare of a child, felony unlawful use of a weapon, felony harassment, felony endangering the welfare of a child, second degree; misdemeanor misuse of official information by a public servant and misdemeanor false impersonation. Sigman is held in the Greene County Jail in Springfield in lieu of $500,000 bond. He was booked into the facility at 8:22 p.m.
Tomaszewski, who is held in Shannon County, is charged with the same offenses as the sheriff. She was booked at 6:50 p.m. Her bond is set at $500,000.
In a probable cause statement, the patrol said Sigman and Tomaszewski were involved in a romantic relationship since she was hired in December 2016.
The arrests come after an investigation that was announced in late April. The matter was referred to Troop D of the Missouri State Highway Patrol and assigned to investigators with the division of drug and crime control. On May 29, a search warrant was executed at the Texas County Sheriff’s Department. Authorities announced earlier that two persons were the subject of the inquiry.
The announcement caps nearly a year of turmoil in the department, which saw more than 40 employees either be fired or quit.
Sigman was elected in 2012. His term expires on Dec. 31, 2020.
Sigman, a sixth-generation Texas County resident, graduated from the Drury Police Academy in 1995. In a published profile in June 2012, he wrote that his aspiration to be sheriff came shortly after completing the training program. He worked in the administrations of Sheriffs John Vandiver and Dean Belshe and later as a Cabool police officer for 14 years when elected in 2012. Sigman defeated Tim Ceplina in the August Republican primary, 2,117-2,096, and later won the General Election. He ran unopposed for his second term.