By Greg Grisolano
ggrisolano@joplinglobe.com
LAMAR, Mo. — The wife of Barton County Sheriff Shannon Higgins is accused of using the Social Security numbers of her mother-in-law and a Golden City couple to run up more than $14,000 in credit-card debt, according to charges filed by the Missouri attorney general.
Susan Michelle Higgins, 36, faces one count of felony identity theft, according to a complaint filed by Attorney General Jay Nixon’s office.
A probable-cause statement on file with the court alleges that the defendant used inappropriately obtained Social Security numbers on or about April 12, 2005, to obtain American Express cards in the names of Jules and Twila Hollingshead, and her mother-in-law, Sharon Higgins.
Sheriff Higgins acknowledged that his wife is facing the charge but declined to comment when reached Tuesday afternoon by phone. He referred all questions to his wife’s attorney, Shane Cantin, of Springfield, who did not return a call Tuesday.
According to a probable-cause statement filled out by Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. James Musche, Sheriff Higgins asked the agency’s Drug and Crime Control Division to assist with an investigation in October 2007. Attempts to ascertain the nature of that investigation from a spokesman for the patrol were unsuccessful Tuesday.
Jules Hollingshead, in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon, said he and his wife were approached in April 2005 to fill out a bingo license for the Golden City Community Center.
Hollingshead, now 69, was serving as vice president of the center’s board. He said the idea for the bingo license, as a way to raise money for the center’s upkeep, was broached to him by Susan Michelle Higgins, who then was board president. The license required, among other things, the Social Security numbers of Hollingshead and his wife, Twila.
“We didn’t really give her the information,” he said. “We mutually filled out an application for a bingo license for the community center.”
Later that fall, Hollingshead said, he was blindsided by a phone call he received from a debt-collection agency. The collector reported that an American Express card issued to the couple on behalf of the community center had a past-due balance of $14,000.
“I had no knowledge of any credit card,” Hollingshead said Tuesday. “There was never any discussion of that whatsoever.”
Hollingshead said Sheriff Higgins went to the couple’s home that same night, apologized for the credit card and the debt-collector calling, and promised to take care of the matter.
“He said not to worry,” Hollingshead said. “He and his family was going to take care of it.”
Hollingshead said that was the last he heard of the matter. He said he did not fill out a police report or attempt to pursue the matter in civil court.
“It’s my impression that he did (take care of it),” he said. “I was never contacted again about it.”
The report by Musche, the Highway Patrol sergeant, states that he initially interviewed Susan Michelle Higgins on Nov. 27, 2007, at the patrol’s satellite office in Carthage. During that interview, Higgins reportedly stated that she received a preprinted credit-card application from American Express for the Golden City Community Center and that she misread the application, thinking it was a credit-card application for her personal business, Golden City Day Care.
She denied using the Hollingsheads’ information on the application, but stated that she listed her mother-in-law, Sharon Higgins, as the second emergency contact, according to Musche’s report. She reportedly stated that when she received the card, she used it only to purchase items for her day-care business.
The probable-cause statement indicates that Musche’s check of the Hollingsheads’ credit did not locate the card in question.
But, the card and outstanding balance eventually were located on the credit report of Sharon Higgins.
Charges in the amount of $14,213 were listed to the account, which used Sharon Higgins’ name and Social Security number, from May through September 2005. The document also indicates that credit cards were issued for Susan Michelle Higgins, Sharon Higgins, and Jules and Twila Hollingshead, although the cards in the Higginses’ names were the only ones that showed any activity.
According to the probable-cause statement, Sharon Higgins told the investigator that she also was contacted by a debt-collection agency in 2005, regarding a card with a past-due balance of more than $14,000. She stated that she never possessed or used the card in question, and said she never recalled giving permission to her daughter-in-law to obtain one in her name.
Jules Hollingshead said Susan Michelle Higgins resigned as president of the Golden City Community Center after the incident, but she remains active in the community.
According to the Web site for the Golden City Rock’n Blues and BBQ Festival, Susan Michelle Higgins is a member of the barbecue cook-off committee..
Mark Stefan, one of the committee members for the event, said by phone Tuesday that he and the other members were aware of the allegations against Higgins, but they are allowing her to continue to serve on the board.
No court date set
No appearance dates have been set in Barton County Circuit Court in the criminal case of Susan Michelle Higgins, wife of Barton County Sheriff Shannon Higgins, according to Scott Holste, a spokesman for the Missouri attorney general’s office.
