Donovan is charged with misuse of official information by a public servant. That’s a misdemeanor that could get him up to a year in a county jail if he’s convicted or pleads guilty.

The detective says Donovan admits he cleared a warrant for his own arrest from Phelps County on a statewide computer system known as MULES (Missouri Uniform Law Enforcement System). The warrant was for failing to appear in court for a ticket for not having insurance on his vehicle, a ticket that Phelps County prosecutors dismissed in May after Donovan showed he does have insurance.

The problem for Donovan is the warrant remained active on MULES, and it was preventing him from getting a permit to carry a concealed weapon. The detective’s probable cause statement, filed in court with the charge on Monday, says Donovan spent weeks trying to get Phelps County law officers to remove the warrant from MULES.

"Anyone who has MULES access -- the Highway Patrol -- it is drilled into your head who is authorized to use it and who is not authorized to use it and proper uses of it,” said Greene County Prosecuting Attorney Darrell Moore.

This is a first for Moore. What was just a traffic violation against a correctional officer turned into a criminal charge -- and cost Donovan his job.

“What he did to try to fix it himself was wrong,” said Moore.

Det. Deborah Wade’s probable cause statement says Donovan, who worked in the county jail, is not certified to use MULES, the law enforcement database that contains everyone's complete criminal history. Yet Donovan got into the system and erased the warrant for himself from Phelps County.

"The entering agency has to remove it,” said Greene County Sheriff Jack Merritt. "He made a very bad choice to manipulate the system for his own benefit."

According to the probable cause statement, Donovan admitted to using a computer in the booking area of the Greene County jail to access MULES. He also told the detective that he had used that terminal and that computer system as a part of his official duties for more than two years without knowing it was off limits to him.

“He advised that he has never gone through MULES Certification and was not told that it was against the law to use the information found for personal use,” Wade wrote.

"I'm sure that someone -- an authorized person -- had entered into it and he just accessed it afterward unbeknownst to them,” said Merritt.

Merritt said he doesn’t know how someone not authorized to get into MULES did that but that his department would look into it. Merritt also turned that question over to the Highway Patrol for investigation, something he routinely does when an investigation involves someone in his own department.

"If we intentionally and repeatedly violate it, that's a concern to me and that's why we are very concerned to get this corrected,” the sheriff said.

Merritt says he had to fire Donovan.

"He had violated the law; I had no choice but that,” he said. "Sometimes it takes an error like this to really realize you do have a mistake happen."