Mo. reporter easily reveals fake cop, gets noticed

Linda Trest, a reporter at the Gasconade County Republican in Missouri, has made national news with her uncovering of the record of a man named Bill Jakob, who came to the town of Gerald and convinced local officials that he was a federal agent on a mission against methamphetamine. CBS News producer Charlie Brooks, center, interviewed her for a report on "The Early Show," scheduled to air tomorrow morning.

When Trest "started hearing complaints from people whose homes had been searched, she began making inquiries about Mr. Jakob," Monica Davey reports in The New York Times. “Once I got his name, I hit the computer and within an hour I had all the dirt on this guy,” Trest told Davey, who writes: "As it turned out, Mr. Jakob, who is married and lives near Washington, a small town not far from Gerald, filed for bankruptcy protection in 2003 when he owned a trucking company, and had, at 22, pleaded guilty in Illinois to a misdemeanor charge of criminal sex abuse of someone in their teens. Since the 1990s, he had worked, at times, as a police officer in tiny departments in towns like Kinloch, Mo., and Brooklyn, Ill., though he never seemed to stay anywhere long and was never certified as a police officer in either Missouri or Illinois, his lawyer said. (Under some conditions, short-term employees with some departments are not immediately required to have state certification.)" (Read more)

Trest was going beyond the county line with her reporting. Gerald is in Franklin County, but only 11 miles from Owensville, the Gasconade County seat and home of the Republican. The Republican posted a Web page about the national coverage. For Trest's initial story, click here.