Month: August 2026

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The federal government is recommending that a Columbia businesswoman who pleaded guilty to wire fraud and not paying payroll taxes should serve an 18-month prison sentence.

Kathryn L. Cunningham pleaded guilty in May 2025 to those felony counts. She was previously charged with 38 felonies.

Cunningham is the former owner and CEO of payroll company Moresource, which had about 140 clients when it closed in 2020, according to previous reporting.

Cunningham was accused of embezzling from the payroll account that was held in trust for the company’s clients. Cunningham stole about $1.5 million for her personal benefit and to run her company, previous reporting indicates.

Court documents filed in the case on Friday claim gambled away payroll deposits at Isle of Capri Casino.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man who sexually assaulted a woman in a parking lot in 2024 has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Nicholas Mathews, 24, of Columbia, pleaded guilty on Friday to first-degree sodomy and armed criminal action. Matthews will also be registered as a sex offender. He is currently being held at the Boone County Jail.

He was previously charged with first-degree sodomy, armed criminal action, first-degree kidnapping, third-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon.

Court documents in previous reporting say Mathews pulled out a large knife and knocked down the victim in a parking lot at 1 a.m. April 2. He then sexually assaulted the woman.

Mathews allegedly confessed at the time about assaulting the victim and told police that he follows vehicles and has “urges to assault women,” the statement says. He denied having a knife.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Romanian national has been charged in federal court with wire fraud after authorities claim he would use a “sleight-of-hand” trick on Walmart cashiers.

Federal court documents involving Hozu Rostas, 25, were unsealed on Thursday. Court documents say Rostas is in ICE custody.

Court documents allege Rostas would “shortchange” cashiers when buying merchandise and would then exchange the receipts for a full refund at other stores. The indictment lists the Conley Road Walmart in Columbia as the location he went to on June 7.

Court documents say after cashiers scanned the merchandise, Rostas would count out cash into separate piles and hand one at a time to the cashiers. After he gave the cashiers separate piles of cash “that added up to at least the full amount owed for the transaction, he took the cash back from the cashiers and gathered it into a single pile,” documents claim.

The indictment says before he gave the pile of cash back to cashiers, “he held the cash close to his body with both hands and used one of his hands to furtively take some of the cash from the bottom of the pile, which he then held until he could place the money into his pants pocket.”

“At the same time that ROSTAS pocketed a portion of the cash, he used his other hand to give the cashiers what was left of the cash, deceiving the cashiers into believing that he had handed them back the full amount of the cash,” according to the indictment.

The probable cause statement alleges that on June 7, he shortchanged the Conley Road Walmart by roughly $2,500 while purchasing $3,196 of merchandise. He also allegedly did this the same day at the Moberly Walmart.

The statement claims Walmart had lost $167,000 from Rostas doing this from February 2025-June 2026 at Walmarts in multiple states.

HUNTSVILLE, Mo. (KMIZ)

A detective testified about the role a man accused of evidence tampering played in the events that led to a Randolph County teenager’s death during the suspect’s preliminary hearing Friday.

Judge Mason Gebhardt said Friday that he would consider binding Julian Mason over for trial after Mason’s preliminary hearing. His next court appearance is set for 9 a.m. Sept. 23.

Mason is one of the co-defendants facing charges for being a part of the murder of a Moberly girl, Kayla Huff, 16, who was killed in May.

Mason is charged with first-degree kidnapping, felony evidence tampering, second-degree burglary and first-degree property damage.

Prosecuting Attorney Stephanie Luntsford called Randolph County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Nathan West to the stand, who testified about the timeline of his investigation.

West testified that through cellphone records of a codefendant’s phone, Mason was tracked driving to Huff’s residence, where what the codefendants believed to be motor oil at the time was poured into Huff’s car, later disabling it. According to West, Mason was responsible for holding the funnel in the gas tank so the substance could be poured into the car.

West also testified that Mason and another codefendant were responsible for hiding the baton used to assault Huff.

After investigators did not take the baton into evidence, Mason and Hunter Ames drove the baton near County Line Road and hid it, according to West, creating grounds for the tampering with evidence charge.

During cross-examination, Mason’s defense attorney, John Barron, argued for dismissal of some charges.

The defense argued that the prosecutors presented no evidence showing Mason physically removed Huff, so the kidnapping charge should be dropped. Barron asked West if there was any evidence of Mason doing so, and West said no.

Gebhardt responded to the defense’s arguments by saying that “nobody jumps into a trunk voluntarily.” The prosecution argued that Mason acted as an accomplice.

The defense also argued that Mason did not physically enter the victim’s vehicle, and that tampering with the outside of the car, the gas tank, held no grounds for a burglary charge.

The prosecution said that, according to the burglary statute, Mason did enter into the gas tank to pour the substance in. The prosecution stated that entering a vehicle’s body is not required, but because Mason inserted the funnel, it satisfies the charge, and pouring the substance into the tank was sufficient to support the property damage charge.

The judge made no rulings Friday, taking the arguments under consideration before scheduling the Sept. 23 court date.