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Jun 07, 2023

Conman who posed as a federal agent in Missouri upends a Metro East veterans group

Patrons enjoy drinks Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023, at the American Legion Post 137 in O'Fallon, Ill. The canteen is open to the public to eat, drink and socialize. O’FALLON, Ill. — Members of the American

Patrons enjoy drinks Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023, at the American Legion Post 137 in O'Fallon, Ill. The canteen is open to the public to eat, drink and socialize.

O’FALLON, Ill. — Members of the American Legion Post 137 in late June took what seemed like a routine vote for a new commander to lead the local fixture known for its bar, fish fries and veterans events.

The majority sided with a new face: Bill Jakob, a 51-year-old man who had been a regular for months at the Legion Hall in O’Fallon, Illinois, a popular watering hole for area veterans.

Jakob seemed like a solid pick. He was active in the Legion Riders, a motorcycle group that does charity events and parades. He claimed he left the military in good standing. He said he taught classes at a local university. He handed out cards to members identifying himself as “Dr. Bill A. Jakob, PhD.” that listed a position with “internal affairs” for the American Legion in Illinois.

But soon after his election, members say, they found out a lot more about Jakob’s past that called his claims into question and prompted a legal challenge, an overturned election and plenty to talk about at the Legion Hall’s bar.

The members discovered Jakob’s history includes inflated military credentials, fake accounts of serving overseas, scams and — most famously — federal convictions in 2008 for posing as a phony federal agent and making arrests in small-town Gerald, Missouri. The case led to months of local and national news coverage, including a “60 Minutes” interview with Katie Couric documenting the saga of “Sergeant Bill.”

After being sentenced to five years in prison, Bill Jakob, who posed as a federal agent for two months in Gerald, Mo., listens during a news conference at the federal courthouse in St. Louis on Dec. 19, 2008.

Doug Stewart, a member of Post 137 and an attorney, said Legion leadership learned of Jakob’s past a few days after the election.

“It all started to come to light pretty soon,” Stewart said. “We, of course, were concerned about what we saw and knew this was not someone you want leading the post.”

Stewart represented Post 137 members who successfully petitioned a St. Clair County judge to overturn the election on procedural grounds.

In a phone interview with the Post-Dispatch two days later, July 26, Jakob said he would quit the Legion and would not run again. He would not share any details of his military record with the Post-Dispatch but said his election was overturned because it didn’t follow American Legion bylaws, not based on definitive proof he was ineligible.

“The attorney did some razzle-dazzle crap and scared the judge because of my past,” he said. “I’m just trying to live my life, and they all just want to rehash Gerald.”

Jakob also failed to provide the Legion with paperwork showing he served in the armed forces and received an honorable discharge, both requirements for membership, an initial petition in the case claimed.

The American Legion Post 137 in O'Fallon, Ill.

Federal prosecutors wrote in 2008 that Jakob had also lied that he left the Army as a first sergeant and was injured overseas but had instead been discharged from the Missouri Army National Guard with “other than honorable” discharge for dishonesty.

Jakob had few answers now about why he chose to rise to leadership in the Legion, despite his record of lies about his military and law enforcement credentials.

“What does one have to do with the other?” he said.

Bill Jakob won’t soon be forgotten in Gerald, a small Franklin County town with about 1,200 residents.

His infamous stint in the town started in January 2008, when he stopped by Gerald police headquarters to meet then-Chief Ryan McCrary. He had read that McCrary has connections to defense contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan and decided to inquire about getting into that line of work, according to his account in court records.

Jakob around that same time had a short-lived stint as a security guard for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and claimed in court depositions that he told McCrary he was a member of the “Federal Reserve Law Enforcement Unit.”

Jakob soon claimed to be a member of a U.S. Justice Department “Multi-Jurisdictional Narcotics Task Force.”

That task force doesn’t exist, except in a movie: “Beverly Hills Cop 2.”

Over about four months, he took on undercover work investigating drug suspects for the five-person Gerald police department and eventually agreed to take an unpaid job with Gerald police where he posed as a federal agent assigned to the town. He went by “Sgt. Bill Jakob.”

Jakob admitted in court depositions to ordering a fake task force badge online and printing fake business cards with his task force credentials. He drove a Ford Crown Victoria that was better-equipped than the Gerald police department’s vehicles. The voicemail greeting on his cellphone was that of a woman claiming the caller had reached the federal task force.

Jakob took full part in drug investigations, kicking down doors, waving a shotgun and a pistol while raiding private homes, handcuffing the occupants and even making arrests, according to court testimony in a federal civil rights suit.

The pretense unraveled in May 2008 when skeptical residents contacted Linda Trest, a reporter with the Gasconade County Republican newspaper, who alerted Franklin County Sheriff Gary Toelke. Trest broke the story that Jakob had been a fraud all along.

Bill A. Jakob in a photo provided by the Franklin County sheriff's office.

Chief McCrary, two of his officers and a Franklin County sheriff’s deputy eventually were fired.

The scandal soon developed into federal charges, national media attention and a spotlight on Jakob’s past.

He never graduated from a police academy but spent short stints in the early 2000s working for small St. Louis-area police departments in Brooklyn, Caseyville, and Kinloch.

He then worked as a trucker for several years before applying in January 2007 for a job at a local lock company, Total Lock and Security Co. of Maryland Heights. Jakob eventually admitted in federal court to lying in the job interview, telling the company he retired from the Army as a first sergeant and serving multiple tours overseas where he was injured. He also said he was a University of Missouri graduate with a history degree.

None of those claims were true. He never served abroad but had instead been discharged from the Missouri Army National Guard in 2005 with an “other than honorable discharge,” he admitted in court.

Jakob then lied to the lock company when he pretended to win an order for hundreds of door locks from the Army Corps of Engineers worth more than $38,000. He sent emails to Total Lock, pretending they were from Corps staffers, to keep the ruse going.

Around that same time, Jakob climbed through the ranks of the Masonic Lodge in Washington, Missouri, where he shared similar stories of tours in Iraq before he was ousted from the organization in 2007 for not disclosing his criminal record, according to the local Missourian newspaper. He pleaded guilty to a lower misdemeanor charge in a St. Clair County case in 1994 after he was accused of having sex with an underage girl.

In early 2008, Jakob then briefly worked for the Federal Reserve in St. Louis as a security guard but was let go after less than a week when his bosses there also discovered his criminal record, investigators told the Post-Dispatch that year. Jakob later claimed he left the job on his own.

Jakob pleaded guilty in 2008 and served five years in prison on 18 counts of false impersonation and one count each of wire fraud, mail fraud and lying to the FBI for both his actions in Gerald and his fraud at Total Lock.

Twenty-two people he arrested or interrogated in Gerald won a small civil judgment totaling less than $50,000 after a 2012 jury trial detailing Jakob’s time in Gerald.

Peter Dunne, attorney for the former Gerald police Chief McCrary, said at the time: “Bill Jakob is the most accomplished liar — the most convincing liar — that any of us are ever going to encounter.”

Jakob was released from federal prison in June 2013. He said last month he’s avoided the spotlight ever since.

“I don’t even think about Gerald now. It seems like 200 years ago,” he said. “It keeps me from talking to people. I stay home or I go drink a few beers. If someone from that time came up and slapped me, I probably wouldn’t recognize them.”

Jakob said he’s gotten interest over the years to capitalize on his story. He sold movie rights to his story in 2008, the Post-Dispatch reported at the time, but no project was ever completed. He said a woman recently traveled from England to interview him for a documentary, but he wasn’t interested.

“The story has been told and told and told,” he said. “I’ve fought that as hard as I possibly could, but it unfortunately does define me.”

Veteran Jason Perry, president of the American Legion Riders Chapter 137, prepares to leave Post 137 in O'Fallon, Ill., on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023.

More than a decade after he was released from federal prison, Jakob said he got involved with the Legion Riders and Post 137.

The Post-Dispatch was sent a copy of a business card Jakob handed out to multiple Legion members featuring an American Legion logo and the name “Dr. Bill A. Jakob, PhD.” He also claimed to be “District 22 Chairman, Internal Affairs” with the American Legion Department of Illinois. Members added that Jakob claimed he was teaching classes at St. Louis University.

Jakob denied to the Post-Dispatch ever claiming to have a doctorate or acting as a professor.

American Legion members say Bill Jakob handed out this business card showing his credentials.

“That’s ridiculous,” he said. “I’m no Ph.D. I have no profession to lie about. I stay quiet, but if I want to tell someone I’m Santa Claus who gives a (expletive)?”

Jakob was nominated and elected in late June and was sworn in as commander July 11, but by then, members were spreading concerns about his past.

Former post commander Chuck Jorgenson, who ran against Jakob and lost, filed an initial petition in St. Clair County Circuit Court challenging the election on July 12 against Jakob, another man elected vice commander, Jason Perry and the post. The suit claimed allowing Jakob to keep the job would damage the post's finances, reputation and eligibility with the national Legion.

The petition said Jakob failed to provide a form describing his military service and discharge after repeated requests. It also included a letter from the Illinois American Legion claiming the organization had “no knowledge” of Jakob being a part of the internal affairs committee like his business card claimed.

St. Clair County Judge Julie Katz on July 24 ordered that the election was invalid for violating nomination and voting bylaws. Jakob represented himself, arguing that he was being unfairly targeted before he was dismissed as a party to the case. Katz ordered that a new vote take place Tuesday, Aug. 8.

Soon after, Jakob stepped down as a member of the post and said he wouldn’t seek the position.

“They tried to paint me as a monster,” he said. “I don’t want anything to do with them.”

Just like the job in Gerald, the post-commander job didn’t pay or offer benefits.

Jakob denied lying to get the position.

“It comes down to an election for an unpaid position to lead 12 old men who run a bar and hold a monthly meeting talking about whether to donate to a food pantry,” he said. “I don’t care anymore. Why would I lie to get that? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Veteran Chris Martin and his wife, Lakiesha Martin, enjoy a drink on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023 at the American Legion Post 137 in O'Fallon, Ill. Chris Martin said he has been coming to the post for three years because of the friendly crowd. "We love people," Chris Martin said.

Take a look at some of the video highlights of 2022 from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch staff.

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