St. Louis Sheriff Alfred Montgomery said he would welcome a third-party investigation after he ordered Tammy Ross, the City Justice Center’s acting commissioner, to be briefly detained in handcuffs late Friday for blocking him from entering the city jail.
“We need to outsource [the investigation] because maybe there's some things that I don't know — or the individuals in my office don't know — that we need to get familiarized with,” he said. “But from our understanding, from our standpoint, there's nothing criminal we did here.”
St. Louis police referred the incident to the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Monday after Mayor Tishaura Jones called for an investigation into the Friday altercation between Montgomery’s office and Ross. As a matter of policy, the FBI neither confirms nor denies the existence of investigations.
“The Sheriff's Office is responsible for protecting courts, transporting prisoners, running the tax sale on the steps of the courthouse, and serving eviction papers,” said Rasmus Jorgenson, a spokesperson for Jones. “The Sheriff’s Office does not run the jail or conduct investigations. The mayor believes an investigation into this troubling incident should occur.”
An alleged assault
The incident involving the sheriff and the city’s jail’s acting boss stems from a complaint lodged last week that alleges a sheriff’s deputy sexually assaulted a person detained in the jail. The deputy in question was a three-year veteran of the department hired by former Sheriff Vernon Betts, according to Montgomery.
The sheriff said he has since fired the deputy.
Mitch McCoy, a St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department spokesperson, said the assault investigation is being led by detectives in the SLMPD’s sex crimes unit, while Montgomery confirmed his department’s internal affairs unit is also investigating the allegations.
“I think people [are] under the impression that it was me — myself, as the sheriff — [who] actually went into the jail and kicked down the doors, and tried to do an investigation myself, and wanted to speak to a detainee,” Montgomery said. “None of that is true.”
Montgomery said that he was notified of the alleged assault on Thursday, and that sheriff’s department investigators later discussed the case with SLMPD detectives and Ross.
He accused Ross of backtracking on an agreement that would have allowed the sheriff’s department’s internal affairs official to interview the assault victim. Montgomery described Ross later becoming “belligerent,” prompting him to order a deputy to briefly handcuff her as he believed she was obstructing his department’s duties.
A representative for the St. Louis Department of Public Safety, which operates the City Justice Center, did not immediately return a request for comment.
"If we feel that an individual is breaking a law, we detain individuals all the time," Montgomery said. "If we have suspicions that an individual is breaking the law, we can detain them until further investigation. We notify the local law enforcement — which is the city police department — to come pick them up and actually make the arrest and file the charges."
A troubled jail
The alleged assault is the latest in a string of controversies at the City Justice Center.
Ross was recently appointed deputy jail commissioner after the city hired an external consultant, Doug Burris, to help improve the facility. Burris then replaced former jail Commissioner Jennifer Clemons-Abdullah, whose tenure was also marked by controversy.
Advocates for reform at the St. Louis jail downplayed the city’s decision to hire Burris as a consultant as just another turn in a carousel of jail assessments and audits that have failed to produce what they believe is meaningful change.
For years, jail detainees have complained about poor treatment and abuse from jail staff. According to a St. Louis Public Radio and Midwest Newsroom investigation, 18 people have died at the jail since 2020.
Activists and members of the city’s detention facilities oversight board have raised concerns about limited access to the jail and information needed to investigate facility deaths and misconduct.
A second investigation
The SLMPD also referred another incident to the FBI where staffers in the sheriff’s department confiscated a man’s gun, according to Mitch McCoy, SLMPD spokesperson.
Officers were dispatched to South Grand Avenue last month following a report of a man potentially impersonating a sheriff’s deputy.
Upon arriving at the scene, SLMPD found that representatives from the sheriff’s office had seized a 35-year-old man's firearm and security license. However, after further review, SLMPD verified the man held a valid private security license, and officers returned his property.
Strained relationships
Montgomery said the incident with Ross is one of many challenges his office has faced with the acting commissioner, the city’s Department of Public Safety and the SLMPD.
He claims the sheriff’s department has had difficulties housing detained individuals due to jail cells being used by people from other departments — which has put a strain on his office's ability to transport some detainees to court. Montgomery said delays in transferring detained individuals to court have led to a meeting to address the jail cell issue.
Montgomery said one of his biggest challenges is that the police department would not communicate with his office, an allegation the police department denies.
“It’s been kind of like dead silent when it came to the police department and we don't understand what's going on,” Montgomery said. “We definitely need the police department, because anytime we have to take an individual into custody, we have to call the police.”
The sheriff said his department has met with almost every other local law enforcement agency — except the SLMPD. McCoy disputed the claim, noting leadership from both agencies met as recently as Wednesday of last week. Chief Robert Tracy has met Montgomery several times while out in the community, according to McCoy, and the two have even exchanged contact information along with their top brass.
“I just want the sheriff's office to have a working relationship with the city police department. I don't think that's hard at all,” Montgomery said. “We’re all in this together, and we all play a role in the criminal justice system.”
Jones made comments this week questioning endorsing him in the race against Betts, and Montgomery said he wished there could have been more open dialogue about the situation at the beginning for clarity’s sake.
“It's an election year, and some individuals say and do things [to get] into office,” he said.
At the root of the issue, Montgomery said he believes there is a misunderstanding of the responsibilities the sheriff’s office has — and that may have to do with language in the city charter, state statute and Missouri Constitution. The sheriff said he plans to meet with legislators or would even consider legal action to find the "missing piece of the puzzle” in the language around his authority.
Montgomery said he hopes city and law enforcement leaders can learn from this situation.
“I just want to see all the departments working together,” he said. “That's how I came into this office — and still, after any of those incidents that we had previously — hopefully those set the foundation for a better tomorrow.”
