Photography by Paul Nordmann
Stenger Fader
On Friday, August 9, former St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger appeared in U.S. District Court and was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison. He was also fined $250,000, on top of the $130,000 restitution he's already paid. Stenger must report to prison no later than September 21.
“It’s a very sad day for democracy,” U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry told Stenger, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “This kind of corruption causes the public to lose faith in our system of government.”
Stenger's lawyers previously asked that he serve 37 months. Perry has agreed to recommend that he serve his sentence in Pensacola, Florida, his first choice.
In April 2019, Stenger, who was elected county executive in 2008 and re-elected in 2012, resigned after an unsealed federal indictment revealed that a grand jury was charging him with three counts of theft of honest services, mail fraud, and bribery, alleging that Stenger had awarded contracts to St. Louis businessman John Rallo in exchange for contribution to his campaign.
Further, Stenger allegedly advised St. Louis Economic Development Partnership ex-CEO Sheila Sweeney to award a Port Authority consulting contract to Cardinal; told Sweeney to award land sale contracts to another of Rallo's companies, Wellston Holdings, LLC; and told Sweeney to award a lobbying contract to an unnamed company, identified in the indictment as Company One. The indictment read that Stenger "provided favorable action" on behalf of Rallo and his companies, then that Stenger, Sweeney, and Rallo attempted to hide these activities.
