Scott County Sheriff’s Office to face injunction that would force them to move from office space

SCOTT COUNTY, Mo. (KFVS) - The latest battle between county commissioners and the Scott County sheriff heads to court.

On Monday, December 19 Prosecuting Attorney Amanda Oesch filed an injunction on behalf of the commission after Sheriff Wes Drury tried to stop his department from being moved out of its current space in the courthouse over the jail.

According to Commissioner Jim Glueck, Sheriff Wes Drury knew the trucks would be coming, but they did not know it would be Monday.

Commissioners announced nearly five months ago they wanted to move the sheriff’s office, but when those moving trucks rolled up Monday morning, the sheriff did not cooperate.

Office employees barricaded the door so no one else could get in. We caught a glimpse of Drury on the other side of the door, but couldn’t get a comment.

Members of the sheriff’s office refused to leave and would not allow anyone but Prosecuting Attorney Amanda Oesch back into the office.

Oesch left with Glueck to have a meeting about what to do next and later returned to give the sheriff’s office a choice: move Monday or face an injunction that would force them to move.

Later on Monday, the prosecutor went back in to tell Sheriff Wes Drury he had to move now or face an injunction forcing him to. The sheriff still refused to leave, and the injunction has been filed.

The hearing is scheduled for December 28.

”All they’re doing is prolonging what’s gonna happen down the road,” Commissioner Glueck said.

Scott County’s presiding commissioner said the blocked doors won’t keep them from enforcing the move into the county jail.

“We need to utilize this space here to get people out of jail over there, that’s the biggest concern,” Glueck said.

Sheriff Drury told Heartland News in July, there simply isn’t enough room.

“As we did some measuring, this building is about 5,000 square feet. They’re wanting to move us into 1,000 square feet,” Sheriff Drury said at the time.

According to Glueck, the decision has already been made.

“I’m just tired of wasting county money on stuff like this, it’s a stall tactic that’s all it is,” he said.

Plus, he said they put a lot of effort into turning the jail into a good workspace for deputies.

“We got the upstairs all redone, there’s cubicles up there for them to work in, I mean, it’s real nice upstairs in the jail, real nice,” he added.

We left several messages with Sheriff Drury, and as of Tuesday morning we have not heard back.

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