Michael Dixon probation case rescheduled

Osage County sheriff due back in court May 27

Osage County Sheriff Michael Dixon is due in St. Louis County circuit court again on May 27.

Special Prosecutor Brendon Fox said Circuit Judge Ellen Ribaudo ordered Dixon to appear in May during a Thursday morning probation violation hearing in Clayton.

She also ordered Dixon be placed on remote breath testing as a new condition of his probation.

Fox said the remote breath testing involves "a handheld device he has to blow in intermittently throughout the day."

Ribaudo last week suspended Dixon's two-year probation order issued July 1, 2014, so the probation period won't end this coming July 1.

Now-retired St. Louis County Circuit Judge Richard Bresnahan suspended the imposition of any sentence but ordered the probation after Dixon pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment in a case involving incidents in Belle in 2012 and 2013.

One of the conditions of the probation required Dixon to "not possess or consume alcohol nor be in a business the primary purpose of which is the sale of alcohol, except to carry out (the) duties (of) a law enforcement officer."

But a nearly four-week sheriff's investigation determined Dixon was in a Hartsburg bar on March 5, and "while consuming alcoholic beverages, drew a loaded, concealed handgun from his waistband and unlawfully and negligently pointed the loaded firearm at a male subject."

The Boone County prosecutor's office last week charged Dixon, 29, of Belle, with unlawful use of a weapon, a Class D felony that could include a prison sentence of up to four years if there's a conviction.

Thursday's hearing had been scheduled before the new charge after Dixon's attorney filed a motion asking the Osage County sheriff be released from his probation early, saying the sheriff "has successfully complied with all special conditions of probation and had no other violations of his probation."