St. Louis Sheriff Alfred Montgomery has been indicted on five new federal felony charges related to his order to handcuff then-acting Jail Commissioner Tammy Ross in August.
They include four charges of witness retaliation and one of witness tampering. Montgomery pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Magistrate Judge John M. Bodenhausen ordered Montgomery to be placed under house arrest until a hearing next week. He'll have to wear an ankle monitor.
Montgomery remains in the job, but David C. Mason, the sheriff's office attorney who is a retired judge, will be running the office in the interim.
Court documents say that Montgomery demoted and then promoted a deputy who was deposed by the Missouri attorney general's office. Attorney General Catherine Hanaway asked a judge this week to immediately remove Montgomery from office based on three of the quo warranto counts this week.
Montomgery allegedly told employees he thought were being deposed that they couldn't be in the courthouse and told one in an email that they were being placed on unpaid leave, though Montgomery later retracted that statement.
Montgomery is also alleged to have told an employee in a recorded phone call: "I don't have to take this sh--, I'm the f------ sheriff. I say it's either done or it ain't. I don't have to tolerate this s---. You work for the pleasure of me. I brought you in this mother f-----, I will move you up out this mother f-----."
The sheriff told an employee to change an incident report's explanation of why he had Ross detained, according to court documents.
He's also alleged to have fired an employee who was deposed in the Ross case. Montgomery's lawyers said the worker was terminated by an employment committee led by Mason. The worker was fired for shredding documents she wasn't supposed to, said Justin Gelfand, Montgomery's personal attorney.
"The sheriff put into place real, proper, legal employment mechanisms and protocols," Gelfand said. "That's doing the right thing, that's not committing a felony."
Gelfand also accused federal investigators of charging Montgomery without seeing all of the evidence.
"The evidence they don't have, evidence that is in the hands of the St. Louis City sheriff's office is evidence that we believe is completely exculpatory," Gelfand said. "Why would you not want all of the evidence before you make such a serious decision?"
Montgomery also failed a drug test for cannabis, which is illegal at the federal level despite its legality in Missouri.
Montgomery was charged in August with a federal misdemeanor for "deprivation of rights under color of law" for having Ross handcuffed, which could carry up to a year of prison time and a $1,000 fine. At the time, Montgomery admitted to using cannabis, and a judge warned him that carrying a firearm while using a federally illegal substance might be a federal offense, according to Fox 2.
In a statement posted to Facebook that has since been taken down, Montgomery was defiant and compared himself to "great leaders of our past," including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks.
"If you are reading this message, it means I am likely held behind bars against my will," he wrote. "But let me be clear: do not allow this situation to shake your faith in our democracy. I have always believed that your vote is your voice, and it is a powerful tool for change. Your voice has been heard, and you have elected a sheriff who is committed to fighting for your rights until the very end."
Ross is also suing the sheriff in federal court over the matter, alleging false imprisonment, battery and civil rights violations.
The Missouri attorney general filed a quo warranto suit against the sheriff in an attempt to remove Montgomery from office this summer. That case included six charges, including nepotism, misuse of public resources and the sheriff's refusal to transport detainees for medical care.
In August, a judge dismissed the nepotism charge after Montgomery's legal team uncovered a 2016 family court order demonstrating that a deputy alleged to be his half brother was not related.
Montgomery has drawn additional criticism for refusing to transport detainees to receive medical care and spending money on new badges, uniforms and a takehome car while his office is in a budget deficit.
The St. Louis Board of Aldermen last month passed legislation to define the duties of his office and put it under financial monitoring. He sued the city in response but a judge ordered him to begin doing medical transports while the matter worked its way through the court.
On Tuesday, the city attorney's office dropped its representation of the sheriff's office in roughly a dozen legal proceedings.
"Your recently filed lawsuit against the City of St. Louis [...] has created an untenable situation and could possibly create multiple conflicts of interests," wrote City Counselor Michale Garvin in an Oct. 7 letter to Montgomery obtained by St. Louis Public Radio.
Aside from the federal cases, the sheriff and his office are also facing multiple other lawsuits, including a defamation lawsuit from Tony Kirchner, a former sheriff's deputy who alleges Montgomery said he could keep his job if he could roll a seven with a pair of golden dice. Kirchner rolled a seven but was later terminated anyway.
The sheriff had organized a rally of his supporters on Sunday at Beloved Community United Methodist Church, which has since been canceled.
This story has been updated.
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