果酱视频

ST. LOUIS 鈥� In May, the embattled city sheriff鈥檚 office signed off on an $11,700 payment, for new uniform patches for its deputies.

A few weeks later, the office bought a flag for the department, for another $380.

Then 鈥� even as Sheriff Alfred Montgomery faced questions over his spending and behavior 鈥� the office spent another $5,000 to retain an attorney specializing in federal criminal defense.

Recently released bank statements and other records are beginning to fill in the gaps in what鈥檚 known about a spending spree that has drawn the ire of city officials and put Montgomery in the crosshairs of the state attorney general. There are the well-known purchases 鈥� $6,000 for security robots, $18,000 for new uniforms, $28,000 for gold-plated badges and $56,000 for Montgomery鈥檚 shiny black Chevrolet Tahoe.

But the statements and check registries show more spending: the money for shoulder patches and the attorney, plus checks to a professional photographer, the Annie Malone parade, dry cleaners and a taxi company.

鈥淭his is what happens when you give a 28-year-old a lot of power and money and no one鈥檚 overseeing him,鈥� said Dogtown Alderman Bret Narayan, who supports a plan to rein in Montgomery鈥檚 spending.

Sheriff鈥檚 aides said it all came from the office鈥檚 discretionary accounts, which are generally funded by fees charged for services, such as serving court papers, issuing permits and holding land tax sales. Such fees are allowed by state law, which generally requires that the money go toward helping sheriffs carry out their duties. There are similar setups for county prosecutors and county recorders.

Now, Attorney General Andrew Bailey is digging into Montgomery鈥檚 spending, saying some of the purchases broke the laws and merit removal from office. And Alderman Matt Devoti, of the Hill, is pushing legislation requiring the sheriff to justify expenditures and provide aldermen with monthly spending reports. 鈥淲e need to deal with it on the front end,鈥� Devoti said this past week.

Montgomery and his lieutenants have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

David Mason, the sheriff鈥檚 office attorney, said he understood the scrutiny of the sheriff鈥檚 spending, in some cases. But even then, he said, it hardly merits the reaction it has received.

鈥淚s it the kind of decision that warrants a fiscal takeover of the sheriff鈥檚 office?鈥� he asked. 鈥淒o you really want to create a world where all the departments are going to have to be looked at, whatever little thing they do?鈥�

On Thursday, Montgomery鈥檚 aides vigorously defended the spending, point-by-point.

Few guardrails

The patches, sheriff鈥檚 aides said, were part of the sheriff鈥檚 efforts to overhaul the department鈥檚 uniforms, which they said were previously a little sloppy.

鈥淵ou can go all day long as to whether that was good or bad,鈥� said Mason.

The criminal defense attorney, they said, was hired after grand jury subpoenas were served on deputies. The FBI has been investigating the office since Montgomery聽had a city jail official handcuffed in February. And Mason said the sheriff had to help the deputies. 鈥淭hese are not rich people,鈥� Mason said. 鈥淭hey can鈥檛 just go out and drop a bunch of money in order to fight something.鈥�

The photographer was paid $2,000. Yosef Yasharahla, a top aide to Montgomery, said the sheriff wanted deputies to have official photos just like other departments.

A $500 check for the Annie Malone parade 鈥� which charges registration fees other politicians have covered with campaign funds 鈥� was community relations for the office, Mason said.

Yasharahla said he couldn鈥檛 say why the office bought the flag.

The spending issues date back to before Montgomery took office, when he started telling senior officials who served under his predecessor that he wouldn鈥檛 need them. The resulting payouts of accrued leave cost more than $400,000, helping push the department鈥檚 regular budget into deficit, setting off alarm bells in City Hall.

But Montgomery kept spending, thanks in part to the discretionary accounts.

The accounts are funded with fees and commissions collected on services the sheriff鈥檚 office provides, including the processing of concealed carry permit applications, the serving of legal papers and evictions, and the auctioning of hundreds of properties for unpaid taxes.

State law provides some guardrails for the spending: The money from the gun permitting, for instance, is supposed to pay for equipment, training and whatever else is needed to run the permitting program. But the other sources are earmarked more generally to support the sheriff in his duties.

Former officials, including former Sheriff Vernon Betts, said the general rule is that purchases just have to support the department in some way. For instance, Betts said, he used the gun permitting money to hire a lobbyist to advocate for more money for the office, which could then be spent on raises, equipment and training.

Records provided by the sheriff鈥檚 office in response to an open records request show that at the beginning of the year, the total balance of discretionary accounts was $188,371.53.

In the first three months, there were few large expenditures. The only checks for more than $1,000 were $1,103.96 to Sumner One, which leases computer printers, and $5,600 to Missouri Sheriffs United, a lobbying group.

Thin blue line

Then in early April, the office started signing off on the checks that made headlines.

There was one to Reuben Larson for $11,700, which sheriff鈥檚 aides said covered the cost of four used golf carts. At the time, the office said they were needed for downtown security patrols that deputies have performed in summers past. But on Thursday, Yasharahla, the Montgomery aide, said the turmoil surrounding the office meant deputies weren鈥檛 doing the patrols this summer.

After the golf carts came the series of checks totaling more than $50,000 to Leon Uniform Co. in Brentwood, and the $11,700 payment for patches to , in North Carolina.

Previously, the patches featured a yellow outline of a sheriff鈥檚 badge with the state seal in the middle against a brown background, with 鈥淪heriff鈥檚 Department鈥� and 鈥湽词悠� Missouri鈥� spelled out in yellow above and below. The new design features a large state seal and the new office motto against the background of a 鈥渢hin blue line鈥� American flag usually associated with police.

Yasharahla, a 31-year veteran of the department, cast it as Montgomery making his mark on the office. 鈥淓very sheriff changes the patches,鈥� he said.

In May, the office made the payment to Joel Borders, , then the small security robots intended to patrol courtrooms, then the flag purchase, which featured the new patch design.

And on May 29, the office wrote the check for payment to John Stobbs, an attorney from Alton with decades of experience dealing with federal prosecutors. He confirmed he helped with subpoenas received by the office, and emphasized that he was hired by the department, not Montgomery personally.

Then, on June 2, the office wrote the check for the Tahoe SUV to replace an 2018 Chevy Impala as the sheriff鈥檚 take-home car.

Later that month, Bailey filed his petition to remove Montgomery from office, citing the Tahoe, badges, robots and golf carts as violations.

And this past week, the city bill tightening oversight of the spending passed out of committee without dissent. Even Alderman Rasheen Aldridge, an ally of the sheriff, said something had to be done.

鈥淗e鈥檚 spent money on stuff that鈥檚 not smart,鈥� Aldridge said. 鈥淢aybe this makes him think.鈥�