Alleged "Dirty" Sheriff’s Captain Taken Into Custody

LINCOLN COUNTY, Mo.

“I think it’s important that justice be served and dirty cops and the people who are supposed to be serving us be brought to light, so this doesn’t happen to others,” said Russ Faria , now exonerated, when he was wrongfully convicted for the murder of his former wife, Betsy Faria.

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Former Lincoln County Sheriff’s Captain Mike Merkel was taken into custody Tuesday after a hearing where he pleaded not guilty and had his bond set at $50,000 cash only.

Merkel walked the same path the now exonerated Russ Faria walked more than a decade ago, when he was wrongfully convicted. Long-since freed, Faria was there to witness it.

“He attacked me directly,” Faria said.

Faria spent three and a half years in prison for the murder of his former wife, Betsy Faria, before a judge exonerated him. The infamous Pam Hupp has since been charged with Betsy’s murder.

“I think it’s important that justice be served and dirty cops and the people who are supposed to be serving us be brought to light, so this doesn’t happen to others,” Faria said.

Lincoln County Prosecutor Mike Wood charged former Sheriff’s Captain Mike Merkel with perjury, for allegedly lying about crime scene photos Merkel claimed did not exist. Those photos, which were discovered later, helped clear Russ Faria.

Defense attorney Joel Schwartz discovered the hidden photos and showed up to defendant Merkel’s bond hearing.

“One, I want to support Russ; and two, it’s a big step in the administration of justice and I just need to see that justice is done in this case,” Schwartz said.

The hearing was tense, especially when the defense attorney called it a victimless crime. The assistant prosecutor jumped out of his shoes and pointed to Russ Faria in court, saying, “Do you want to ask Faria if this is a victimless crime?”

“I’m here to tell you I spent three and a half years [in prison]. Three years, five months, and 11 days. The anniversary is coming up on June 15,” Faria said.

Merkel did not spend much time in custody as his attorney said he brought with him a $50,000 cashier’s check to bond out. The former captain will now have to wear an ankle monitor until his next court date in August.

Former Lincoln County Sheriff’s Captain Mike Merkel is known well for this statement in 2019

Authorities say there are 180 registered sex offenders who call Lincoln County home. That’s one offender per 312 residents.

In fact, we’re told Lincoln County has more sex offenders per capita than at least six other counties in our area.

“It worries me professionally,” said Detective Sean Flynn, who helps to track the sex offenders in Lincoln County.

Flynn says more offenders are coming to the county because of restrictions on how close they can live to things like schools and daycares.

“It’s harder and harder for them because of what the laws are to find places to live in the more densely populated areas like St. Charles County and St. Louis County, so it’s pushing them out farther to more rural areas,” he said.

Flynn and Merkel say that increase could contribute to the sex crime case numbers.

“There is a percentage of them who have re-offended,” Flynn said. “There are some that are currently under investigation.”

“If you put registered sex offenders in an area and there’s already non-registered sex offenders there, well then they can work together and figure out how to victimize more children.” (Editor’s Note: You have to watch the video embedded in the article to realize that it was Captain Merkel’s voice making this statement, NOT Flynn. That is why he gets the nomination over Flynn)

“If you put registered sex offenders in an area and there’s already non-registered sex offenders there, well then they can work together and figure out how to victimize more children.”

And here is the troubling bottom line.

“As time goes on, there are more people being convicted of sex offenses, so we’re going to see an increase in the number of sex offenders every year,” Flynn said. “The number is not going to decrease.”

‘Know who your kids are hanging out with, know where your kids are going, know the offenders that reside in your area.’

Flynn says investigators conduct surprise checks on Lincoln County sex offenders to make sure they are complying with the law.

Russ Faria

Russell Faria, convicted in 2013 for the first degree murder of his wife, Betsy Faria (of Troy, Missouri) in 2011, was acquitted of the charges during November 2015 in St. Louis Circuit Court. Nearly two years after Faria was convicted and four years after the brutal stabbing of Betsy in their home, attorney Joel Schwartz of the RSRG Law Firm was able to present new evidence advocating for the acquittal of Mr. Faria, which ultimately resulted in the reversal of the case’s 2013 verdict.

Faria had served two years of his life sentence when an appeals court ordered the judge to revisit several issues in the case; specifically the additional investigation of other potential suspects and evidence that was hidden during the investigatory process in 2011. NBC discusses the decision for a retrial in a story published in November 2015, right around the time the acquittal was announced.

Additional complications in the case presented during the new trial afforded our attorney, Mr. Schwartz, the opportunity to present a theory pertaining to Betsy’s $150,000 life insurance policy that close friend Pamela Hupp became a beneficiary of mere days before Ms. Faria was murdered. Ongoing litigation in civil court between the Faria’s daughters and Ms. Hupp is still pending as Hupp was, indeed, awarded the large sum of money.

In an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Mr. Schwartz said that it was “not possible for (Faria) to have committed the crime” and that he would like to hear a determination of “actual innocence,” not just a not-guilty verdict. The final verdict of the appeal declared Russ Faria acquitted of murder charges.

The case was featured in numerous regional and national media outlets. Click the links above and below to read articles and watch videos with more details about the infamous case.