Alfred Montgomery #

Introduction #

Alfred Montgomery was elected sheriff of St. Louis, Missouri, in 2024 and took office in January 2025. His tenure lasted less than a year: on November 25, 2025, St. Louis Circuit Judge Steven R. Ohmer permanently removed him from office, ruling that Montgomery had “willfully neglected his official duties and, as a result, has forfeited the office of sheriff for the City of St. Louis” . The ruling ended a quo warranto case the state had filed that June. The removal itself was a civil court order, not a criminal conviction.

Background Information #

Montgomery inherited an office already in fiscal disarray. Before he was sworn in, he handed out termination letters to former Sheriff Vernon Betts’ top brass, and Betts signed off on hundreds of hours of his senior officials’ accrued compensatory time before leaving. A St. Louis comptroller’s audit found the move arguably cost the office hundreds of thousands of dollars, and city auditors testified the expenses flowed from those letters .

Unprecedented purchases — including a new take-home Chevrolet Tahoe, security robots, used golf carts, uniforms, and gold-plated badges — drove up the office’s deficit. Montgomery’s administration defended the items as necessary updates for a long-neglected office, but the costs, combined with staffing expenses, drew the ire of the Board of Aldermen, which approves the department’s roughly $14 million annual budget. When the board questioned his spending, Montgomery told the mayor he would stop transporting sick detainees for medical care, arguing that duty was not explicitly written in state statute; the mayor and board responded with legislation requiring the transports and financial monitoring, which Judge Joan Moriarty ordered the office to perform through early 2026 while weighing its legality. Multiple deputies also sued Montgomery claiming they were owed pay .

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #

Adjudicated vs. alleged. Montgomery’s removal from office was ordered by St. Louis Circuit Judge Steven R. Ohmer in a civil quo warranto judgment and is a matter of court record. The state’s six counts — illegal arrests, financial mismanagement, refusing to transport detainees for medical care and others — were allegations: the judge found that most did not amount to removal, and the nepotism count was dropped after court documents and DNA tests disproved it. His separate federal criminal case remains charges only — he has not been tried on it and is presumed innocent.

The quo warranto petition was filed in June 2025 by then-Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey and continued by his successor, Catherine Hanaway.

Two incidents anchored the case: Montgomery ordering the handcuffing of then-acting jail Commissioner Tammy Ross at the City Justice Center, and his disarming of former Sheriff’s Deputy Darryll Wilson. Ohmer found these actions to be “a clear violation of his duties and responsibilities as Sheriff and an improper interference in the orderly enforcement of the criminal laws by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department,” and wrote that by “interjecting himself into the criminal investigations of a police nature,” Montgomery “willfully violated his official duties.” The judge found the majority of the attorney general’s allegations did not amount to a removal, describing several as ongoing political disputes between officials .

Separately, a federal grand jury indicted Montgomery on four counts of witness retaliation and one count of witness tampering. On October 14, 2025, Magistrate Judge John Bodenhausen revoked his bond, and Montgomery was held in Perry County Jail . After the state’s fourth request, Ohmer temporarily removed him from office on October 29, 2025, saying he did not understand how Montgomery could run the office from federal custody. The removal trial began November 18, 2025, and more than 30 witnesses detailed his confrontation with Ross .

Public Reaction and Consequences #

Calls for Montgomery’s resignation began shortly after the Ross clash, and Mayor Cara Spencer and Board of Aldermen President Megan Green later joined them. Hanaway called the permanent removal “a win for the people of St. Louis and a step towards restoring integrity and trust in our government and the rule of law,” adding that her office would continue holding misconduct in public office accountable . Earlier, after the temporary removal, she argued that “a sheriff under federal indictment, facing a quo warranto proceeding, and sitting in jail cannot credibly lead a law enforcement agency” .

Montgomery repeatedly denied wrongdoing and called the efforts to remove him politically and racially motivated. Hanaway rejected that characterization, noting her office had filed quo warranto actions “including in very small, majority-white areas” against officials who were not doing their jobs. His lawyer David C. Mason said he respected Ohmer’s ruling but was unsure the evidence supported it, and while he would not be directly involved in an appeal, he anticipated Montgomery’s lawyers would examine that option . Even while jailed and removed, Montgomery remained on the payroll at $144,000 a year as of June 2025; Mason told reporters he was not aware of a law that could cut off the salary .

Current Status #

Ohmer’s order made the temporary removal permanent and ousted Montgomery, who was also ordered to pay the costs of the case, including almost $7,000 for transporting him from federal custody . Retired St. Louis Police Chief John Hayden Jr. has served as interim sheriff since the October temporary removal, appointed by Presiding Judge Christopher McGraugh .

Who fills the vacancy permanently remains unresolved. Hanaway believes Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe has the power to appoint a replacement, while Green maintains Missouri law requires the mayor, the comptroller, and the Board of Aldermen to be involved; the city has sued seeking a judicial determination, and the board has asked to intervene .

Montgomery also remains charged in federal court with a misdemeanor in the handcuffing of Ross, carrying up to one year in prison, along with five felony counts of witness tampering and retaliation that could total a combined sentence of up to 100 years — charges, not convictions.

Impact on Their Career/Life #

Montgomery’s elected career effectively ended within his first year in office: after winning in 2024, he was ousted by court order before completing a full year as sheriff, and he spent much of the final stretch in jail. The office he led remains under court-ordered detainee transports and financial monitoring. His federal criminal cases are pending, meaning the former sheriff faces potential prison time if convicted. Meanwhile, the succession fight over his former office, from the interim appointment to the question of appointing authority, continues in St. Louis’ courts .