The sheriff of Missouri’s most populous county was jailed Tuesday and faced mounting calls to resign after just 10 months in office over accusations that he ordered deputies to handcuff the jail warden and then interfered with the investigation.
Federal Judge John Bodenhausen ordered the bail of 28-year-old St. Louis Mayor Alfred Montgomery be revoked after prosecutors said in court filings that there was a serious risk that he “will attempt to threaten, injure, or intimidate” witnesses or jurors.
St. Louis Mayor Kara Spencer issued a statement on Tuesday calling on Montgomery to resign and calling the situation “absurd.” Days earlier, the Missouri Attorney General’s Office had tried, and failed again, to oust Montgomery.
David Mason, a retired city judge who now works as an attorney for the Sheriff’s Department, said he has no plans to step down.
Montgomery has been at the center of controversy since he was sworn in in January after narrowly defeating the incumbent in the Democratic primary. Missouri’s attorney general initially called for his resignation in June, accusing him of refusing to transfer detainees to receive medical care, wasteful spending and nepotism.
But just as his legal team refuted allegations of favoritism, he was indicted in August on a federal misdemeanor alleging that he deprived the acting commissioner of the St. Louis City Justice Center of her rights by ordering her to be handcuffed.
The county sheriff’s office does not operate the jail, although it transports people detained there, so a jail official denied the sheriff’s request for access to a detainee who had made allegations of sexual misconduct against one of his deputies.
Five additional felony charges were added this month, alleging witness retaliation and witness tampering.
Montgomery’s attorney Justin Gelfand said any adverse employment action taken against employees stemmed from misconduct, not based on information provided to law enforcement. He said he planned to appeal.
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This story has been updated to remove references to “St. Louis County.”