Ex-policeman pleads guilty to theft charge

      Former Fairfield police officer Cameron Cooksey pleaded guilty this morning to charges of stealing $1,484.59 on two occasions from the police department's evidence room while he was an officer assigned to investigations.

      After hearing arguments from Thomas Henry Miller, special assistant attorney general for the state of Iowa, and from Cooksey's attorney, Matthew Cunningham, Judge E. Richard Meadows entered a deferred judgment, placing Cooksey on probation for a period of three years.

      The deferred judgment means that if Cooksey complies with the terms of his probation, the record will be expunged and he will not have a felony on his record. Cooksey, 32, was charged with second-degree theft, a Class D felony which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $7,500 fine.

      Before the sentencing, Cooksey told the judge he regretted his actions and apologized "to my family, the police department and everyone that I've disappointed."

      Cooksey had pleaded not guilty at his Feb. 23 arraignment and changed his plea today.

      At the beginning of this morning's hearing, the judge asked Cooksey to describe the events that led to the charge of theft being entered against him.

      "I took some money from the evidence room," Cooksey said. "? I was an investigator at that time. I was responsible for filing evidence and logging evidence."

      Cooksey said he took approximately $1,164 from the evidence room on one occasion and approximately $320 on another occasion. He told the judge he could not remember the exact dates.

      Because an audit was going to be done as a result of policy changes in the police department, Cooksey said, he reported himself on Dec. 9 to avoid an investigation. He told the judge he went to police chief Randy Cooksey, who is also his father, to explain what had happened.

      Because of the two men's family relationship, Randy Cooksey did not participate in the ensuing investigation.

      Meadows questioned Cooksey's motives for coming forward if he did so only when an audit was about to take place. Cooksey said he wanted to avoid an investigation which would have affected the entire police department.

      "It wasn't that I didn't want to get caught," he said. "It was that I didn't want to see an unnecessary investigation go on throughout the whole department because of what I had done."

      For the complete story, read the May 24 Fairfield Ledger.