MARIES COUNTY — Maries County Prosecutor Anthony (Tony) Skouby confirmed on April 10 that a Facebook page called MOFreePress submitted a complaint to him against Sheriff Mark Morgan.

According to an April 7 post on Facebook from Belle Accountability and responses from MoFreePress, the complaint sought to remove “Maries County Sheriff Mark Morgan (from office) under Missouri law (RSMo 106.220).”

“I did receive a complaint yesterday afternoon (April 9) against Mark Morgan,” Skouby said. “Prior to that, I’m thinking either (April 7 or 8), that individual had started calling me, wanting information on who could file those types of complaints.”

Skouby said he avoided giving legal advice.

“I directed him to the state statute after that,” Skouby said. “Without giving legal advice, I gave statutes that they could look at.”

Skouby said the complainant also requested help filing the grievance, but he declined and again referred them to the steps outlined in Chapters 106.220 - 106.320, RSMo.

Chapter 106.220 outlines forfeiture of office reasons, including failure to personally devote time to duties, willfully violate or neglect official duties, or fail to enforce criminal laws.

Chapter 106.230 outlines that any person with knowledge of a public officer’s misconduct may file an affidavit with the circuit court clerk and the prosecutor is responsible for prosecuting the complaint.

Although the complaint was filed against the sheriff and Skouby is the county’s attorney, the prosecutor said it was unlikely he would represent the sheriff.

“I am probably going to ask the presiding judge for assistance on what to do,” Skouby said. “Mark filed a complaint against me with the Bar, so to avoid any real, actual or perceived appearance of impropriety, I probably shouldn’t be the one to prosecute that.”

Skouby said it is likely that he will ask for a judge to appoint a special prosecutor.

“He (Morgan) filed that Bar complaint in retaliation to me filing the charges against (former Belle patrolman Erican) Sugg, for assaulting that old man in Belle,” Skouby said. “He filed it within a week of that happening. While I’d love to prosecute Mark Morgan, I don’t think I’m the one to do it. I’m going to let the proper people without a dog in the fight decide. Otherwise, it will look like I’m stirring up stuff just like he is, and I’m not going to be that way.”

Skouby said his goal is to make sure everything is by the book.

“I’m going to remove any argument or thought that I might be biased or influence this in any way, in retaliation for what he’s done to me,” Skouby said. “I’m going to make sure somebody with a totally blank slate is taking a look at this and not me.”