Jackson County charges Missouri Highway trooper in towing corruption scheme 7%

By Kowthar Shire0%

5/18/2026, 8:15:40 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 3 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Emotion and False Dilemma, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 20.3% saturation with 59 hits. Analysis detected 118 faulty-reasoning hits from 290 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 22.8% and a BS Rank of 7% (19,234 of 20,473 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 93.90% of the article peer group.

Missouri State Highway Trooper Charles “Nate” Bradley allegedly used his position as a trooper to help towing companies profit from towing and storing stolen vehicles, Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson announced Monday. 
Bradley was hit with thirteen charges on April 30 after a year-long investigation, including ten counts of tampering with physical evidence. 
Bradley is also accused of preventing proper evidence collection and delaying people from retrieving their vehicles accepting gifts from a towing operator in exchange for giving the company access to stolen vehicles, stealing for keeping a stolen necklace in his personal possession and 1st degree property damage for directing a tow truck driver to intentionally damage a stolen vehicle. 
Bradley investigated fraud and theft for the Missouri Highway Patrol, including an odometer fraud ring, catalytic converter thefts and thefts of Hyundai and Kia cars. 
“Today’s indictment makes clear that nobody is above the law,” Johnson said at a press conference Monday. 
Johnson said the investigation began in February 2025, after stolen auto victims raised concerns over predatory towing practices. 
“I'd like to acknowledge those victims and recognize the huge cost that they have faced behind these alleged crimes,” Johnson said. 
“We know how much stolen vehicles can affect the average person’s life as they scramble to find transportation.” 
Bradley surrendered himself to custody on May 15 and was released on a $30,000 bond. 
Johnson said that while charging a law enforcement officer is rare, Jackson County plans to handle the case as they would any other. 
“We cannot ask this community to trust law enforcement if we look the other way when injustice occurs,” Johnson said. 
“We will always hold individuals accountable regardless of who they are.” 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 1.3%Columbia Missourian: 1.7%Confirmation Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 2.0%Columbia Missourian: 0.8%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 3.8%Columbia Missourian: 2.7%Availability Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 1.4%Columbia Missourian: 0.9%Representativeness Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.5%Columbia Missourian: 0.4%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 3.1%Columbia Missourian: 1.3%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 8.4%Columbia Missourian: 5.5%Framing Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.8%Columbia Missourian: 1.0%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.8%Columbia Missourian: 0.7%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.2%Columbia Missourian: 0.3%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 7.2%Columbia Missourian: 4.5%Optimism Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 1.2%Columbia Missourian: 1.6%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 20.3%Kowthar Shire: 5.0%Columbia Missourian: 5.4%Negativity Bias20.3%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 1.0%Columbia Missourian: 1.7%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.7%Columbia Missourian: 0.6%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.1%Columbia Missourian: 0.2%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 1.8%Columbia Missourian: 1.6%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.2%Columbia Missourian: 0.4%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 2.4%Columbia Missourian: 2.4%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.0%Columbia Missourian: 0.0%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.0%Columbia Missourian: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 2.0%Columbia Missourian: 0.9%Recency Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.5%Columbia Missourian: 0.3%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.0%Columbia Missourian: 0.0%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.5%Columbia Missourian: 0.5%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.2%Columbia Missourian: 0.2%Straw Man0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 5.7%Columbia Missourian: 2.9%Appeal to Authority0.0%This article: 6.9%Kowthar Shire: 1.0%Columbia Missourian: 1.1%False Dilemma6.9%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.7%Columbia Missourian: 1.0%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.1%Columbia Missourian: 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 1.5%Columbia Missourian: 3.6%Hasty Generalization0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.4%Columbia Missourian: 0.2%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 1.2%Columbia Missourian: 0.7%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 13.4%Kowthar Shire: 6.5%Columbia Missourian: 5.3%Appeal to Emotion13.4%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 1.1%Columbia Missourian: 0.6%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 2.3%Columbia Missourian: 2.0%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.0%Columbia Missourian: 0.0%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.2%Columbia Missourian: 0.4%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.0%Columbia Missourian: 0.2%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.2%Columbia Missourian: 0.2%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 1.8%Columbia Missourian: 2.6%Anecdotal0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.0%Columbia Missourian: 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 1.3%Columbia Missourian: 1.3%Ambiguity (Equivocation)0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.0%Columbia Missourian: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.0%Columbia Missourian: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.1%Columbia Missourian: 0.0%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.1%Columbia Missourian: 0.1%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.0%Columbia Missourian: 0.1%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 1.4%Columbia Missourian: 0.8%Unattributed Quote0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.2%Columbia Missourian: 0.7%Quote-first Misdirection0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 3.7%Columbia Missourian: 2.9%Biased Writer Voice0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 1.8%Columbia Missourian: 1.3%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 1.3%Columbia Missourian: 0.7%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.1%Columbia Missourian: 0.2%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Kowthar Shire: 0.8%Columbia Missourian: 1.6%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

290 words analyzed.

Speakers

1speaker30%attributed speech203writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 10 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 32 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 21 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 59 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 25 words • 0.0% coverageMelesa Johnson • 17 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 18 words • 0.0% coverageMelesa Johnson • 21 words • 0.0% coverageMelesa Johnson • 18 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 15 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 23 words • 0.0% coverageMelesa Johnson • 20 words • 0.0% coverageMelesa Johnson • 11 words • 0.0% coverage
Selected voice

Melesa Johnson

68%flagged-word coverage
87 attributed words100% of attributed speech29% writer coverage

No manipulation-pattern hits were found in this speaker's attributed words or the writer's voice.

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.