A former St. Louis sheriff's deputy alleges he was illegally fired by Sheriff Alfred Montgomery.
Tony Kirchner said he was taking bereavement leave after his father died and tried to extend his leave. He said Montgomery told him he could keep his job if he rolled a seven with a pair of gold dice.
He did but was later terminated anyway.
Kirchner and his lawyers argued the sheriff’s office is systematically dismantling the department and firing white workers at a press conference Thursday.
“My dignity, my everything, came down to the roll of the dice for a 12-year career,” Kirchner said. “I mean, I didn't believe it myself. I'm still speechless.”
Betts denies the claim.
“I’ve never had any dice,” Betts said. “I don’t even know where that really came from.”
John Gieseke, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, confirmed Kirchner was let go and said it was for numerous reasons, including: campaigning in uniform, working secondary during office hours, letting tax papers expire and not serving papers properly for outside services.
Kirchner’s lawyers shared copies of a 40-minute recorded interaction between Montgomery and Kirchner in which Montgomery does ask him to roll a pair of dice.
Lawyers representing Kirchner said that he should be reinstated and that they believe up to 18 staff members from the department have been terminated, 12 of whom are white.
Kirchner, who's also running for the Board of Aldermen in the 1st Ward, said his political opponent, Alderwoman Anne Schweitzer, sent Montgomery photos of him wearing his sheriff’s hat at a neighborhood meeting. The sheriff told Kirchner he broke a law that prohibits campaigning while in uniform.
Kirchner denies campaigning and said sheriff's deputies were often encouraged to attend neighborhood events in uniform, something Betts said he also encouraged. Kirchner said he believes the photos were from last September or earlier — before he had filed for candidacy.
Kirchner’s lawyers accused Schweitzer of colluding with Montgomery.
“The sheriff wanted a reason to fire him, and Anne Schweitzer gave him the reason that was false,” said Brandy Barth, a lawyer representing Kirchner.
Kirchner filed with the St. Louis Board of Elections Commissioners in December, and records from the Missouri Ethics Commission show he filed with the commission in September 2024.
“Tony has been campaigning regularly in uniform in front of me and other attendees at neighborhood meetings throughout the ward since his first campaign for alderman,” Schweitzer said. “He's made being a deputy sheriff the cornerstone of his campaign and flaunted that regularly and publicly.”
Schweitzer said she reported the incident to Montgomery and Betts, but Betts said he never received the picture. Kirchner also ran in the 1st Ward in 2023.
Schweitzer said those allegations against Kirchner should be looked at.
“If those things are true, that is incredibly serious,” Schweitzer said. “Was he working secondary while he was being paid by the City of St. Louis? Was he campaigning while being paid by the City of St. Louis? Did he have a record of not doing his job?”
This is the latest of several disputes involving Montgomery over the past week. A week ago, he had Tammy Ross, deputy jail commissioner, briefly handcuffed and detained for not allowing him access to a detainee who accused a sheriff’s deputy of sexual assault.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the assault but referred the situation involving Montgomery to the FBI. A police spokesperson said the department also referred another incident to the FBI in which sheriff’s department workers confiscated a man's gun. SLMPD said the individual had a private security license. The officers returned his property.
Talmage Newton, another lawyer representing Kirchner, said these incidents are part of a wider problem in the sheriff’s department.
“This office is out of control, the safety of the people of St. Louis, the courts and the citizens are all at risk because of this behavior, which is not limited to what happened here with Kirchner but with all of the episodes we have seen in the news recently,” Newton said.
Brian Munoz contributed reporting to this story.
