ST CHARLES, Mo. — A man who was wanted in St. Charles has been taken into custody.
The city's police department announced William Gary Barnes II was arrested Tuesday in St. Charles. They had put out an alert Friday asking for the public's help in locating him. He was released after posting a $25,000 bond.
Barnes, who is a police officer with the New Florence Police Department in Montgomery County, was charged with second-degree stalking and two counts of nonconsensual dissemination of private sexual images. The charges stem from incidents involving Barnes’ ex-girlfriend last summer, according to court records.
The victim said she did not contact Barnes after breaking up with him on July 24, 2021.
The woman said she got suspicious that Barnes was following her after he started texting her when she arrived at certain locations. On Aug. 17, she was dropping off a friend at Ameristar Casino, and he texted her asking if she was betting on red or black. Another time, she was visiting a friend at an apartment in Weldon Springs. He messaged her to say she parked next to his vehicle, which she said wasn’t the case, the charging documents state.
The next day, the victim searched her car and found a GPS tracking device magnetically attached to the inside of her car near the gas tank. A St. Charles police investigator found the device was activated by Barnes, and that he later confirmed the phone number and email address tied to the GPS account were his.
Barnes also said in a police interview that he sent nude photos of the woman to her mother, according to the charging documents. He also said he told the victim he uploaded sexual videos of her on a website – and that people were paying him to watch them. But Barnes told the investigator he never posted the videos.
The charging document filed by a St. Charles police investigator confirms Barnes was employed by the New Florence Police Department, and states that “he uses his authority as a law enforcement officer to intimidate and threaten people.” The statement continues by saying, “individuals interviewed in this investigation described Barnes as an uncontrollable and unpredictable person to whom they fear.”
