O’Fallon, Mo. woman charged with making politically motivated false child sex abuse claim

ST. CHARLES COUNTY — An already contentious race to replace state representative Justin Hicks has gotten even nastier.

Hick’s mother-in-law is facing felony and misdemeanor criminal charges for falsely accusing candidate Max Calfo, a political rival of Hicks and a substitute teacher in the Fort Zumwalt and Wentzville school districts, of sexually assaulting her daughter in class while teaching at Liberty High School. Her daughter does not attend the high school and was not one of Calfo’s students, police said.

O’Fallon police say that Elizabeth Sparks, 57, of O’Fallon, called the Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline in April to make the claim, which triggered a preliminary investigation within the school.

“After I overcame the shock of it, I knew instantly that it had to be politically motivated,” Calfo told the Post-Dispatch.

Calfo, a Republican, is locked in a heated primary against Dardenne Prairie alderman Mike Costlow to replace incumbent state representative Justin Hicks in District 108.

Hicks decided to not seek reelection and launch a now-abandoned bid for Congress. Hicks and Calfo also have a history, as Hicks had sued Calfo for releasing “private facts” regarding copies of protective orders filed by a woman who said Hicks had assaulted and harassed her.

According to police, the phone number and voice recording left on the hotline belonged to Sparks, who is also a co-host of a conservative political podcast and owns her own media company. She previously worked for 26 years in early childhood education. More recently, she worked for a conservative talk radio station, KTLK-FM, known as “The Patriot,” according to her LinkedIn page.

Police say Sparks confessed to concocting the scheme to trigger an investigation against Calfo. Specifically, police say she lied about her daughter being victimized and lied about her even being a student at Liberty High School. She even made up the name of the English class where the alleged assault reportedly took place.

“This case has shown evidence that she is willing to falsely accuse the victim of a heinous crime because of her own political beliefs,” police wrote in court documents.

She now faces charges of first-degree harassment, a felony, and filing a false report, which is a misdemeanor offense. Her first court appearance is scheduled for September.

Sparks has retained former St. Charles County prosecutor Tim Lohmar as her attorney. In a statement, he said his client “strenuously maintains her innocence.”

“Out of respect for the process, she has chosen not comment further at this time,” Lohmar said. 

Calfo said Friday that, while he doubts Sparks concocted this scheme by herself, he does not believe Hicks had any involvement in it. He then accused Mike Costlow, his opponent in the upcoming Republican primary, of taking part in the plan — something Costlow vehemently denies.

“I have not ever met her,” Costlow said. “I’ve been involved in non-partisan politics here in Dardenne Prairie, and partisan politics is a whole another realm. We’ve never crossed paths until this race.”

Costlow said Sparks never volunteered for his campaign, nor has she donated any money to his candidacy. Campaign finance records filed by Costlow confirm that Sparks has made no such donations.

He said he believes she only ever sent him a “good luck with my campaign” text message, and that all he knew about her was that “she didn’t like my opponent for obvious reasons.”

Calfo had sought to remove Costlow from the ballot because of his prior convictions related to a “paintball gun trading scheme” in Georgia when he was 19. Missouri law prohibits anyone with a felony conviction from holding public office. A St. Charles County judge dismissed the lawsuit and, this week, rejected Calfo’s request for a new trial in the case.

“I think voters would be able to see that this crime will only benefit one person and that person is not me,” Calfo said. “Fundamentally, the reason Hicks sued me and Sparks tried to steal this election for Costlow is that they know I am a threat to the establishment’s political power.”

But Costlow calls Calfo’s accusation another instance of campaign “mudslinging.”

“I hate that our politics are devolving into this playground battleground where people fling mud to see what kind of damage they can do,” Costlow said. “I think all of this is really unfair to the voters of Lake Saint Louis, Dardenne Prairie and O’Fallon, who just want us to present our visions so they can decide who would represent them best.”

Sparks’ podcast, “Cancel This,” was created after Vic Faust was fired from Fox 2 News. Faust berated a radio show co-host in a profanity-laden rant in September 2023; he was fired shortly after a recording went public.