51黑料

ST. LOUIS 鈥� The purchases of new city Sheriff Alfred Montgomery have attracted a lot of attention in recent weeks: There were new lobbyists, then golf carts, then a new take-home SUV.

And now, new badges.

The sheriff鈥檚 office ordered 250 new ones from Leon Uniform Co. earlier this year at a total cost of $28,125, the company said.

The new badges look like the silver and gold stars worn by the sheriff and his deputies in the past, save for a couple of changes: The new stars have a metal ring encircling them and bear Montgomery鈥檚 three-word motto for the office 鈥� 鈥淚ntegrity. Honor. Respect.鈥�

The news further aggravated 51黑料 officials already irked by the office鈥檚 spending, which is on track to exceed its budget by hundreds of thousands of dollars this year.

鈥淗ow do you spend $28,000 on badges?鈥� asked Alderman Michael Browning, who has become one of the sheriff鈥檚 sharpest critics in recent weeks. 鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing to me.鈥�

鈥淩idiculous,鈥� added Alderman Matt Devoti, of the Hill. 鈥淚t鈥檚 one issue after another.鈥�

Jack Gieseke, a spokesman for Montgomery, described the purchase as a security measure. He said that under previous sheriffs, badges were given out without proper accounting, creating the risk that some of the old badges could be misused to impersonate deputies. People who served under former Sheriff Vernon Betts also did not return their badges when they left, Gieseke said.

鈥淭his investment ensures accountability moving forward,鈥� he said.

Betts, for his part, said his staff tracked badges properly, and that those who left the department returned them.

And Browning, the alderman, was skeptical of Gieseke鈥檚 explanation.

鈥淚 think this sheriff has lost his credibility,鈥� he said.

Since taking office in January, Montgomery has been investigated for ordering the handcuffing of a top jail official, sued after telling a deputy to roll golden dice for his job and criticized for having a deputy from school.

But now his financial decisions, and the resulting budget deficit, are drawing the most attention.

Montgomery, 28, kicked it off by pushing out more than a dozen senior officials who served under his predecessor, a move that required the city to pay out nearly a half-million dollars in accrued leave.

Then he piled on, giving raises to deputies, hiring high-profile lobbyists, buying $11,700 worth of used golf carts and requisitioning a 2025 Chevrolet Tahoe for his take-home car, replacing the 2018 Chevrolet Impala his predecessor drove.

The purchase of 250 badges 鈥� the sheriff is budgeted for 170 positions, but has asked aldermen to fund 60 more 鈥� appears to have happened a few months before all of that came to light.

An invoice for them is dated March 6, with a payment due date of April 5. The invoice denotes the department as a 鈥渘et 30鈥� account, meaning it has 30 days to pay for goods after receiving the invoice.

It lists orders for 12 different kinds of badges, each denoting a different rank or job title. The price for each badge is listed as $115 save for the sergeant badges, which are listed at $135 apiece.

Most appear to be the gold electroplate model from the New York firm Smith & Warren.

On Wednesday, it first appeared the sheriff鈥檚 office hadn鈥檛 paid for them: A woman who answered the phone in the uniform company鈥檚 accounts receivable department told the Post-Dispatch that the bill was overdue and that she had called the sheriff鈥檚 department about it that day.

But on Thursday, Matt Seidler, the president of the uniform company, told the Post-Dispatch the bill had in fact been paid.

The call on Wednesday had been about a separate invoice, he said, for roughly $18,900 in uniforms ordered in April.

He said that bill was not an issue, however, as the company knows it won鈥檛 be paid until next month 鈥� when the city鈥檚 next fiscal year begins and department budgets turn over.

鈥淎s far as we鈥檙e concerned,鈥� Seidler said, 鈥渢he sheriff鈥檚 office is in great standing with Leon Uniform Company.鈥�