A federal judge sentenced William Anthony Jakob, aka "Sgt. Bill," to five years in prison today. The sentence came as part of a plea agreement Jakob struck with prosecutors last September when he pleaded guilty to 23 felony counts, among them, impersonating a federal agent, lying to federal agents and wire fraud.
Jakob arrived in tiny Gerald, Mo. early this year, telling the town's five-man police squad that he was a federal officer on loan from a multi-jurisdictional narcotics taskforce, a fictional agency. Jakob--who is the subject of this month's feature story,"I Was Kicking Ass And Taking Names"--proceeded to lead the small town cops on a series of aggressive drug raids that featured Jakob striding through town with a shotgun at the ready. The ruse came to an end when Linda Trest, a suspicious reporter at a nearby weekly newspaper, alerted authorities to Jakob's ruse.
-Malcolm Gay
