St. Louis Sheriff Alfred Montgomery got burned by his own burner phone today and is now headed to jail as the criminal case against him works its way through court.
Montgomery, already on house arrest, was the subject of a lengthy bond revocation hearing in federal court, including testimony from an officer with pre-trial services, the court entity that supervises defendants while they’re on bond.
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That pre-trial services officer testified that since Mongtomery was indicted less than two months ago, he had purchased what he himself called a “burner phone,” told the court that he had far fewer guns than he actually did, and threatened to knock someone out “with one punch” on a recorded call. None of this was viewed favorably by Judge John Bodenhausen, who described Montgomery’s recent conduct as “cagey.”
Montgomery was already facing a quo warranto removal effort from Missouri’s attorney general when he was indicted on August 28 on a federal misdemeanor count for illegally detaining the acting director of the St. Louis City jail. Montgomery was then hit with a superseding indictment last week, charged with five felonies alleging witness tampering and witness retaliation for allegedly firing employees who sat for depositions in the cases against him. He was recorded on phone calls saying that specific employees “definitely gotta go.”
That phone call was made on Montgomery’s “burner phone,” bought in someone else’s name after his first federal indictment on August 28. The federal prosecutor on the case, Christine Krug, indicated there would be other witnesses giving testimony if the case went to trial who were still working at the sheriff’s office. She said there was no way to monitor all of Montgomery’s communication short of him being locked up in jail. Bodenhausen ultimately agreed house arrest would be inadequate to prevent Mongtomery from retaliating against subordinates in such a manner, given that it is essentially impossible to monitor all his communications even on house arrest.
That burner phone was not the only strike against Montgomery that came to light at today’s hearing.
The pre-trial services officer said that on one recorded phone call referenced in the superseding indictment, Montgomery also threatened to beat someone up, saying he would finish him off “with one punch.” This was presumably someone else Montgomery thought had provided testimony against him.
Montgomery, who appeared in court wearing a sleek brown suit, also had unusual interactions with pre-trial services concerning his use of marijuana. When he was initially indicted in late August, he told the judge that he used cannabis and was ordered to cease using the drug as part of his release. The judge indicated that he’d understand if Montgomery tested positive for the drug in the near future, given that it stays in a user’s system for some time.
However, according to the pre-trial services officer, after Montgomery tested positive for the drug on September 8, he claimed that he doesn’t smoke weed and said that the test likely had to do with other medication he takes or because he “frequents” a restaurant that serves cannabis-infused cuisine.
There was also the matter of the sheriff’s many guns.
Upon surrendering his guns after his first indictment in August, Montgomery filled out a form indicating he had six personal guns and appointed sheriff’s office employee Colonel Yosef Yasharahla as the person he would surrender his guns to. When Yasharahla came to Montgomery’s house, he collected 14 guns— five handguns, seven rifles and two assault rifles. When pretrial services asked Montgomery about this discrepancy, the sheriff told them that he wasn’t home when Yasharahla collected the guns. But Yasharahla later told pre-trial services that Montgomery had been home when he collected the weapons.
Montgomery’s attorney Justin Gelfand was in a tough spot throughout the hearing, having been instructed by the judge that today was not the day to “pre-litigate” the merits of the case against Montgomery. Gelfand, however, needed to find a way to alleviate the judge’s concerns that Montgomery would engage in witness tampering if he were to remain out of jail. But Gelfand’s main way of doing this was by attempting to poke holes in the charges against Montgomery—in effect, pre-litigating the case.
Gelfand repeatedly offered that Montgomery was willing to put further conditions in place if he could stay out of jail. He floated the idea of all personnel decisions indefinitely running through another attorney, former Judge David Mason, to prevent potential retaliation at the hands of Montgomery. Gelfand also pointed out that the employees Montgomery allegedly retaliated against were in fact fired or demoted based on the recommendation of a committee that included Mason and Yasharahla.
But Judge Bodenhausen pointed out that Yasharahla was a close friend of Montgomery and expressed confusion about Mason’s exact role—was he Montgomery’s attorney? Was he an attorney for the sheriffs office? Was he a sheriff’s office employee? Bodenhausen said that he was recently in his car listening to the radio when he heard Mason would be taking to the airwaves on Montgomery’s behalf.
At the end of the nearly two-hour hearing, Bodenhausen ordered Montgomery into the custody of federal marshals. Montgomery handed Gelfand his eye glasses and was led by marshals out of court.
Afterwards, Gelfand told reporters that he didn’t feel like his side of the story was fully heard, in particular that evidence of the sheriff’s “actual innocence” could not be heard.
“We’re sitting here begging to objectively prove he isn’t guilty of the crimes he’s charged with,” said Gelfand.
Lest anyone be confused, Gelfand added, “The sheriff remains the sheriff of the city of St. Louis.”
Maybe not for long, though. In a statement issued soon after Montgomery was ordered to jail, Mayor Cara Spencer said, “The absurd situation at the Sheriff’s Office has reached new heights and must now come to an end. I urge Sheriff Montgomery to do what’s right for the city and resign his office. Should he continue to only prioritize serving himself, I hope the court will move quickly to remove him. Our office stands ready to support the Sheriff’s Office during a time of transition.”
