ST. LOUIS — Months ago, well before the state demanded ӣƵ Sheriff Alfred Montgomery step down, federal investigators began looking into the sheriff's hiring practices.
It was early May, seven weeks before Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed suit, listing a half-dozen allegations against Montgomery seeking his ouster from office.
That day, federal investigators sent a subpoena looking into the relationship between Montgomery and a man named Malik Taylor, whom Bailey later identified as Montgomery's half-brother.
The subpoena sought“birth certificates, birth records, death records, place of birth documentation and recorded parental information”for both men.
It was widely reported months ago — and confirmed by ӣƵ police Chief Robert Tracy — that the FBI was investigating a February incident in which Montgomery had a top city jail official handcuffed and detained over a disagreement, outraging other city officials who said he had no right to do that.
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But the grand jury subpoena reveals federal investigators have since broadened their inquiry beyond the handcuffing incident.
Both the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s office declined comment for this story. Jack Gieseke, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, also declined to comment on the subpoena and reiterated the office's stance that Montgomery and Taylor are not related.
Family records are already playing a leading role in Bailey’s effort to oust Montgomery from the sheriff’s office.
The very first count in the “quo warranto” lawsuit Bailey filed June 25 accused Montgomery of violating the state constitution’s nepotism prohibition when he hired Taylor in January. Bailey said Montgomery and Taylor sharethe same father.
Retired Circuit Judge David Mason disputed the accusation in court earlier this month, when the parties convened for the first hearing in the case.
Mason presented Judge Steven Ohmer with birth certificates that did not prove Montgomery and Taylor had the same father.
The space for a father’s name on Taylor’s certificate was blank. Mason said Montgomery’s father was present to testify if needed.
No final ruling was made on the matter.
Bailey has accused Montgomery of a litany of other offenses as well, including having a deputy pick up his children from school while on government time, refusing to transport city prisoners to medical appointments and misusing public resources by spending tens of thousands of dollars on used golf carts, gold-plated badges and a new Chevrolet Tahoe SUV for the office.
The subpoena, dated May 7, also demanded records on two other men with the same names as sheriff’s deputies: Terance Wadley and Adrian Richmond.
The prosecutor listed on the subpoena is Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Krug, whose portfolio includes civil rights and police misconduct cases. She was most recently in the news for prosecutions of a former Woodson Terrace police officer who kicked a man's head during an arrest and a former North County Police Cooperative officer charged with sexually assaulting people he arrested.
Authorities have not said how — or if — Wadley and Richmond are related to Montgomery.
The next hearing in the case is set for Aug. 29. A trial is set for mid-November.
After referencing a Post-Dispatch article about the sheriff's recent controversies, Alderman Michael Browning questions Sheriff Alfred Montgomery on budget requests. Video courtesy of the City of ӣƵ, edited by Jenna Jones.
