A former St. Louis sheriff’s deputy who was fired earlier this year is suing Sheriff Alfred Montgomery for defamation.
Tony Kirchner said the sheriff defamed him in a statement issued over the weekend. In the statement, Montgomery said Kirchner showed signs of emotional distress when given the option to resign or be fired for campaigning while wearing a sheriff’s uniform. Kirchner, who's running to represent the 1st Ward on the Board of Aldermen, denies that claim. Montgomery alleged that Kirchner had a history of “volatile behavior.”
Montgomery said he told Kirchner that if he could roll a seven with a pair of gold dice, he could keep his job. Kirchner rolled a seven but was later terminated.
Montgomery’s statement said that they were trick dice. Kirchner’s suit takes issues with six aspects of Montgomery’s statement, including:
- That an internal investigation revealed misconduct involving Kirchner and others receiving taxpayer-funded wages while working another job during the same hours.
- That Kirchner exhibited significant emotional distress.
- That Montgomery was aware of potential for an unstable reaction since Kirchner was armed.
- That Montgomery deployed a creative de-escalation strategy to ease the tension and provide Kirchner with a sense of control.
- That Montgomery told Kirchner to roll the dice for his employment due to his deep commitment to safety of the team and the integrity of the department.
- That deputies stood by ready to intervene, emphasizing the gravity of the moment.
Montgomery has changed his story from its first telling. In an interview with St. Louis Magazine last week, Montgomery said the dice were not a part of his decision to terminate Kirchner. He said the former deputy was fiddling with dice left over from the previous sheriff, Vernon Betts. Betts told St. Louis Public Radio last week that he never owned a pair of gold dice.
Kirchner’s lawyers provided a 45-minute recording of the interaction in which Montgomery asks Kirchner to roll the dice.
“He changed his story because he was caught in a lie, and whoever it was who helped him write this statement, they're also part of creating this false story,” Kirchner’s lawyer, Brandy Barth, said Monday.
A spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Department declined to comment. Montgomery said Saturday that telling Kirchner to roll the trick dice was intended to “empower him in a situation where he felt powerless, rather than reducing it to mere chance.”
Barth said additional lawsuits will be filed regarding Kirchner’s termination.
Montgomery said last week that besides allegations of Kirchner campaigning in uniform, he was also working a secondary job during office hours, letting tax papers expire and not serving papers properly for outside services.
Kirchner and his lawyers said Montgomery has systematically dismantled the sheriff’s office.
“Based upon the actions and the statements of the sheriff, something has gone very wrong,” Barth said. “As myself, a city resident, I am not confident that this is the person who should be leading any department in this city.”
