ST. LOUIS – St. Louis Sheriff Alfred Montgomery finds himself at the center of four scandals after less than two months on the job.

Just before taking office on Jan. 1, 2025, Montgomery filed suit against former Sheriff Vernon Betts, accusing his predecessor of delaying the transfer of power by removing documents from the office and not providing credentials for the sheriff’s security systems.

Earlier this week, a former St. Louis sheriff’s deputy alleged that Montgomery illegally took his gun after a false allegation, claiming the deputy was impersonating an officer. Sheriff Montgomery was also accused of lying about his office detaining the city jail commissioner over a jail rape investigation.

At a news conference Thursday, Tony Kirchner, another former sheriff’s deputy, asserted that Montgomery forced the deputy to roll dice to keep his job.

Talmage Newton and Brandy Barth, Kirchner’s attorneys, said their client was fired after 12 years with the sheriff’s office.

Newton said Kirchner’s termination resulted from “political collusion between the sheriff and First Ward [Alderwoman] Anne Schweitzer.”

“This office is out of control,” Newton said.

Newton and Barth want an immediate investigation into Montgomery’s office and the sheriff’s conduct.

Kirchner said he was called to meet with the sheriff and was told he needed to resign or be fired. Montgomery said Kirchner had been “campaigning on the job.” Kirchner had previously filed paperwork to run for a seat on the Board of Aldermen. His opponent? Anne Schweitzer.

Sheriff Montgomery showed Kirchner photos, provided by Alderwoman Schweitzer, of the deputy at a ward meeting.

Kirchner acknowledged he was wearing a sheriff’s office hat, but said he would attend meetings during off hours, and that the pictures were taken before he’d even filed to register for the election in mid-December.

“So, my dignity, everything came down to the roll of the dice for a 12-year career,” Kirchner said.

He said Montgomery reached into his desk and produced a pair of gold dice, saying, “All the big dogs roll this.” At first, Kirchner refused to oblige the sheriff. After some back and forth, Kirchner, feeling intimidated, said he grabbed the dice and rolled.

Kirchner rolled a combined 6 on his first attempt and a 7 on his second. The sheriff left the room and Kirchner felt the matter was now behind him.

Days later, a reporter reached out to the deputy to ask about a statement saying he’d been fired. Kirchner said the question had caught him off guard and that things didn’t sink in until his wife went to the pharmacy to have a prescription filled and was told they were no longer insured.

“That’s when it really hit home to me. And that’s when I realized, okay, I gotta find out what’s going on here,” he said.

Newton claimed Sheriff Montgomery denied the meeting and dice roll ever took place. However, Newton and Barth provided audio of the conversation to members of the media.

In the meantime, Kirchner said he still plans on running in the city election. His attorneys said he should be immediately reinstated as a sheriff’s deputy “with no conditions until and unless such time as [Kirchner] opts to leave the office on his terms or for another legal reason.”

Newton said there has been a wave of departures since Montgomery took office.

“Predominantly, it seems, with white sheriff’s deputies being removed from office systematically and for equally pretextual and fake reasons,” he said.

When asked about Schweitzer contacting Sheriff Montgomery, Kirchner said the time to do that was months ago after he’d gone to the meeting and not after he’d declared for office. Kirchner believes the pictures were taken during a meeting in September 2024 or earlier.

Kirchner said the former sheriff routinely encouraged deputies to go to ward meetings, off the clock, to represent the office.

This is a developing story and is being updated.

Editor’s note: A prior version of this story mentioned “three scandals.” It has been corrected to say “four scandals.” We regret the error.