by Sherman Smith, Kansas Reflector
August 14, 2024
ERIE — A rural Kansas prosecutor retired from office this week after being accused of numerous crimes, disciplined for telling a woman she owed him a sexual favor and working out an undisclosed plea deal with state authorities.
Linus Thuston, the Neosho County attorney for the past 12 years, retired at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, according to a letter filed with the county clerk’s office and obtained by Kansas Reflector.
“It has been my distinct pleasure to serve the citizens of Neosho County as County Attorney,” Thuston wrote in the letter. “I have worked in government service in Kansas the majority of my adult life. My wife and I prayed in 2020, and decided that I would retire in 2024.”
Kansas Reflector also obtained a previously undisclosed document from the Kansas Disciplinary Administrator’s Office that reveals Thuston received an informal admonishment in April for requesting the sexual favor.
Thuston appeared in court Wednesday for a first appearance after the Kansas Attorney General’s Office charged him with two misdemeanor financial crimes. Retired District Judge Merlin Wheeler, who was appointed to oversee the case, slammed the brakes on a plea deal over concerns it was moving too fast.
In an unusual move, the AG’s office apparently worked out a deal with Thuston before filing the misdemeanor charges and setting aside cases where he is accused of felonies — including one in which he persuaded about 50 women who were his private practice clients to send him nude photos.
The terms of Thuston’s plea deal haven’t been disclosed. Thuston and his attorney walked away from reporters without taking questions after Wednesday’s hearing.
Local officials have voiced frustration with Thuston for years over his willingness to grant high-dollar diversion agreements and reduce charges for serious crimes, as well as concerns about his use of office funds.
Sheriff Greg Taylor has said the Kansas Bureau of Investigation reviewed evidence in 2022 that Thuston committed sexual extortion while asking private practice clients for nude photos in exchange for continuing to provide legal services, leaving the women feeling like they had no choice. Thuston also prosecuted some of the women, Taylor said. In one case, there was evidence that Thuston used his county credit card to pay a woman who had sent him nude photos.
That case, and 10 others, were turned over to the AG’s office for consideration.
In standard offense reports obtained by Kansas Reflector, Thuston also was accused of using confidential information for personal gain, intimidating a witness or victim, disseminating a criminal history record, theft by deception, preventing reporting of victimization, and other felonies. Those crimes were reported between 2018 and 2023.
Last week, the AG’s office charged Thuston with just two misdemeanor charges: Misuse of public funds in 2019, which corresponds with accusations of paying the woman who sent him nude photos, and violating the Retailers’ Sales Tax Act in 2021, which matches a case where Thuston was accused of falsifying the sale of a vehicle to avoid paying $617 in sales tax.
Wheeler acknowledged during Wednesday’s hearing that the charges were tied to a plea deal reached between Thuston and state prosecutors. Thuston’s attorney told the judge he was prepared to enter into the agreement in the interest of a “speedy resolution.” Staff from the AG’s office were present in the courtroom.
“Given the overall nature of the case and the speed at which it has been processed, I am of the opinion that I do not want to proceed today,” Wheeler said.
The judge set a hearing for Sept. 4 to consider the plea deal and sentencing. Thuston could be fined between $500 and $12,500 or sent to jail for up to 18 months.
Adam Stolte, an Overland Park defense attorney who is not involved in the case but has negotiated plea deals for his clients for 12 years, said he had never seen a case where a plea deal was reached before charges are filed. He offered his perspective at the request of Kansas Reflector in an interview for this story.
“That kind of speaks to more of like a two-tier system of justice where people in the know get special treatment, whereas the typical offender or accused wouldn’t get that ability to even avoid the filing of felony charges,” Stolte said. “It’s not rare to have a felony case dropped to a misdemeanor or reduced to a misdemeanor, but it would be extremely rare for them to agree to not even file felony charges.”
Stolte said the evidence of alleged crimes “makes it seem like it’s more likely than not that there is a two-tier system of justice where there’s not supposed to be.”
In July, the Reynolds Law Firm of Fort Scott filed a civil lawsuit against Thuston and the Neosho County Board of Commissioners, seeking payment for legal services that were provided to Thuston in disciplinary cases where he was accused of violating ethics rules. The lawsuit claims Thuston or the county owe the law firm $22,535.20.
Thuston has faced multiple disciplinary complaints since being appointed as county attorney by former Gov. Sam Brownback in 2012, and winning subsequent elections.
In 2022, a disciplinary panel decided not to punish Thuston for a conflict of interest after reviewing eight letters of support from people in the community, including one from county health director Teresa Starr.
Starr told Kansas Reflector she didn’t write the letter, and Thuston admitted in a recorded interview with Kansas Reflector that he wrote the letter for her. Starr also said Thuston threatened her with retaliation if she didn’t go along with it.
Taylor, the sheriff, filed a complaint with the Disciplinary Administrator’s Office over the letter and comments Thuston made to Starr.
In a letter dated April 24 from deputy disciplinary administrator Matt Vogelsberg to the sheriff, Vogelsberg said a review committee determined there wasn’t “clear and convincing evidence” that Thuston had forged Starr’s letter.
However, Vogelsberg wrote, the review committee took issue with Thuston telling Starr that she owed him oral sex because he had advised the county commission not to fire her. In response, the Disciplinary Administrator’s Office imposed “an informal admonition,” Vogelsberg wrote.
Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and X.
