MONTGOMERY COUNTY • One of four St. Charles County police officers facing misdemeanor charges after a 2009 drug raid here is now facing an upgraded felony charge.

St. Charles County sheriff's deputy Christopher E. Hunt, 37, is charged with first-degree burglary — a felony, plus misdemeanor charges of property damage, assault and making a false report. The charges were upgraded on Feb. 3.

Montgomery County prosecutor Nicole Volkert said the earlier charges were filed by a previous prosecutor and that the new ones weren't based on new information. "These are the charges that I believed were appropriate," she said.

Hunt had been charged with trespassing, property damage, making a false report and two counts of third-degree assault, all misdemeanors.

The other officers are set to go to trial next month in Montgomery County for misdemeanor charges of third-degree assault and making a false report.

Hunt, plus sheriff's deputy William S. Rowe III, 34; Lake Saint Louis officer Dion E. Wilson, 38; and O'Fallon officer Deric Dull, 34, were members of the St. Charles County Regional Drug Task Force on Feb. 5, 2009. On that day, they helped members of the East Central Drug Task Force with the arrest of Phillip Alberternst, 46.

East Central's officers were searching the property and had agreed to try a consensual search, but it appeared nobody was home, court documents say. Hunt then arrived and kicked in a porch door, court documents say. Hunt and the three officers from St. Charles County are accused of kicking and punching Alberternst, whom they found inside. Police said Alberternst resisted arrest.

Court documents filed with the upgraded charge say Alberternst said he believed Hunt had been hostile toward him; he had had issues with Hunt in the past; and Hunt previously had backhanded him while Alberternst was handcuffed.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Kenneth Schulte, who investigated the arrest incident, interviewed Hunt and said that his report "was in sharp contrast to the reports of other officers at the scene." Court documents did not detail those differences.

Joe McCulloch, attorney for Hunt and Rowe, blamed the upgraded charges on politics. "Certainly nothing has changed in three years."

He added: "It's an assault on police officers trying to do police work. Every police officer ought to take note of this."

Sheriff's spokesman Craig McGuire said the department found no basis for disciplinary action.