CHANUTE — Former Neosho County Attorney Linus Thuston will stand trial on three felony counts of perjury, the Chanute Tribune reported.
Thuston, who retired in August after serving as Neosho County’s chief prosecutor since 2012, is accused of lying to prosecutors while testifying in a drug case, the newspaper reported.
The charges center on Thuston’s testimony in a drug case last June, in which he spoke about relationships with people he described as confidential informants, the newspaper reported. He admitted he had received nude photos from one of the women involved in a drug case.
Police had uncovered Facebook messages from a woman who said Thuston, “tells me everything cause he wants me,” the newspaper said, adding she had relayed information from Thuston to her brother, a defendant in the drug case.
The Tribune said Thuston had relayed information about houses that were under police surveillance, and the name of an informant who was talking to police.
Special prosecutor Branden Bell filed the charges. Bell also was the prosecutor handling the drug case in which Thuston testified.
After a Neosho County District Court preliminary hearing on May 6 in Chanute, retired Judge Meryl D. Wilson ordered Thuston to stand trial. Arraignment and trial dates have not been set yet, the Tribune reported.
Thuston was convicted in a separate investigation of two misdemeanor charges — violating the Retailers’ Sales Tax Act in 2021 and misuse of public funds in 2019 — and served time in the county jail.
Thuston twice was unsuccessful in bids to serve as Allen County attorney. He was defeated in 2008 and 2016 by Jerry Hathaway.
