By Katie Kull
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS — A judge on Wednesday kicked Sheriff Alfred Montgomery out of office, finding he can’t run the department from jail.
Judge Steven Ohmer’s ruling came over protestations from Montgomery’s lawyers, who compared his absence to a prolonged vacation.
STAYING ALERT: What officers need to improve situational awareness
“I don’t see how the sheriff’s office can run without his presence,” Ohmer said.
Ohmer’s ruling is temporary. Montgomery will be on leave while the Missouri Attorney General’s Office continues to pursue a lawsuit seeking his permanent ouster.
In the meantime, former city police Chief John Hayden Jr. will serve as the sheriff, the city’s presiding Judge Christopher McGraugh ordered Wednesday.
Ohmer’s decision marks the latest setback for Montgomery and could be a potentially fatal blow to his political career. Since he took office in January, the 28-year-old sheriff endured scandal after scandal — for the handcuffing of a city jail official, for flashy spending, for fights with city officials and having a deputy pick up his kids from school.
Then, on Oct. 14, a federal judge sent him to jail after he was indicted on six criminal charges, including felony witness tampering.
Through it all, Montgomery has said he has done no wrong, accused his critics of racist discrimination and cast himself in the mold of a civil rights figure fighting against oppression.
His attorneys said Wednesday that he’s been running his office from a jail cell with the help of his top deputy, Col. Yosef Yasharahla. Montgomery has consulted on employee discipline based on recommendations from a personnel committee. He helped coordinate a major land tax sale and would sign off on the receipts. He has kept tabs on office operations through frequent phone calls with office employees, said sheriff’s office attorney David Mason.
It’s like he’s been on a vacation in a faraway place — like Vienna — Mason said.
“There’s no significant management decision that the sheriff is unable to make,” he said.
Ohmer’s decision on Wednesday stems from an incident early this year.
It was February. An inmate at the downtown City Justice Center said she had sexual encounters with a sheriff’s deputy. Montgomery went to the jail and said he wanted to see the detainee.
Deputy jail director Tammy Ross refused, and Montgomery ordered his deputies to handcuff her.
Montgomery’s office, unlike other sheriffs across the state, does not run the jail or perform general law enforcement duties. Instead, sheriff’s deputies transport prisoners to and from court, provide courthouse security and serve legal papers.
The FBI launched an investigation.
For months, many details of that investigation remained private, even as Montgomery courted new controversies with a deputy picking his kids up from school, his office refusing to take jail inmates to medical appointments, and his spending on golf carts, gold-plated badges and a take-home SUV for himself.
When the Attorney General’s office filed a lawsuit to oust Montgomery and asked for an immediate suspension in July, Ohmer — a retired city judge appointed to oversee the case — denied the request, saying no crime had been committed.
When the U.S. Attorney’s office announced in August they would charge Montgomery with a crime in the handcuffing incident, they hit him with a misdemeanor civil rights charge. Ohmer said it didn’t rise to the level of immediate removal, either.
But earlier this month, federal prosecutors unveiled an indictment charging Montgomery with five new felonies accusing him of tampering with and retaliating against witnesses to the handcuffing incident.
They said he tried to convince one of his lieutenants to submit a false report about the ordeal, barred other employees from the courthouse and put one on leave.
They said he also bought a “burner phone” and used it on recorded calls in which he called employees “snakes” working against him.
A federal judge ordered Montgomery jailed after the charges came to light, saying he couldn’t be trusted not to tamper further.
On Wednesday, Montgomery did not appear in court alongside his lawyers, though Mason maintained that it wasn’t necessary for him to be there.
Ohmer heard arguments from the Attorney General’s Office and Montgomery’s lawyers about whether there was enough evidence to oust the sheriff permanently before the case even got to trial.
But then, nearing the end of the proceeding, Ohmer shifted gears.
He peppered Mason with questions about how the sheriff’s office was running in its leader’s absence. Mason maintained that things were under control. Another sheriff’s attorney, Matt Ghio , said he spoke with the sheriff up to three times a day on free calls reserved for lawyers and clients.
“It’s just as if he was home in his house,” Ghio said.
Ohmer didn’t buy it. He said he didn’t want the office to be “wallowing in limbo” while its leader was in jail. He ordered Montgomery temporarily removed from office and made Judge McGraugh point person in the meantime.
Shortly after the hearing ended, McGraugh appointed Hayden — who served as police chief from 2018-2022 — to take over.
The trial in the case seeking to remove Montgomery from office is set for Nov. 18; a trial on the federal criminal charges has not been scheduled.
Austin Huguelet of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
© 2025 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Visit www.stltoday.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
