A lawyer for the St. Louis sheriff’s office has been put on administrative leave after department leaders received complaints that he harassed a reporter from a local news outlet.
Text messages obtained by St. Louis Public Radio appear to show sheriff’s counsel Blake Lawrence asking the reporter for their address and threatening to send deputies to their home unless the newspaper takes down an article on the sheriff’s office buying a take-home vehicle and spending $28,000 on badges.
Lawrence confirmed to STLPR that he sent messages to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter and said he sent them on St. Louis Sheriff Alfred Montgomery’s orders. Lawrence said the suspension is retaliation for his cooperation with an investigation into the sheriff.
Screenshots of the exchange show Lawrence sent at least 19 unanswered messages over a day before the reporter directed him to a Post-Dispatch editor to put Lawrence in touch with their lawyer. Lawrence was put on leave soon after.
“There were no official correction requests that I can remember,” said Post-Dispatch Local News Editor David Hunn.
Hunn confirmed the publication reached out to the sheriff’s administration and alerted it to the messages. The reporter declined to talk to STLPR for this story.
Sheriff’s office lawyer David C. Mason also confirmed that a local news organization complained that a reporter received intimidating texts.
“I respect your position,” a text from Lawrence reads. “But I have recommend a subpoena unless I hear from you before 9 a.m. tomorrow.”
Other messages ask for the reporter’s address and claim it may be illegal if the reporter doesn’t respond to his text.
“I’m really sorry man,” reads another text. “But I’m going to have to deputies out tomorrow. What is your address.”
The messages continue.
“Are you available to talk about the AG’s allegations about badges and the Tahoe on Wednesday at 8 am,” another message said. “If not, tell me. Invoke counsel man.”
Another message complains about a headline for a story.
“The headline is still up on Duck Duck Go,” Lawrence said. “It’s your byline dude.”
Others ask for testimony and if the reporter would be willing to be deposed. “I’m sorry man,” another text reads. “I hope you understand I have a legal responsibility to my client.”
Texts complain that the price tag for new badges is inaccurate. An audit by the St. Louis comptroller’s office released this week confirmed the sheriff’s office spent $28,000 on badges and uniforms.
Lawrence joined the sheriff’s office near the beginning of Montgomery’s tenure.
Montgomery is facing a variety of lawsuits. He was jailed earlier this month for violating his bond after being federally indicted for witness tampering and retaliation. Col. Yosef Yasharahla, a former bailiff for Mason, a retired judge, has taken over the day-to-day functions of the department.
Lawrence said Montgomery ordered him to reach out to the news outlet to ask if the stories could be taken down. Lawrence said Mason told him the relationship with the outlet is “worth more.”
“I objected,” Lawrence said in a text exchange with STLPR. After that, Mason suspended him — but Lawrence said it wasn’t for the messages but in retaliation for “cooperation with law enforcement not vetted by the current departmental leadership.”
Mason denies these allegations.
“You can't say, ‘OK, just because I'm going to testify, I'm now so protected I can do whatever I want and get away with it,’ that simply is not true,” Mason said. “If somebody engages in misconduct, they are entitled to be judged by that misconduct and not any past, present or future testimony they might give that's wholly, that's legally and logically irrelevant to the decision of whether an employee has engaged in any misconduct related to their job.”
This week, a former sheriff’s worker filed a lawsuit against the city and the sheriff, alleging she was slandered and fired for testifying in the attorney general’s lawsuit against Montgomery.
Mason said the sheriff’s office will give Lawrence an employee review committee.
“He can come in and state his position on these matters,” Mason said.
The employee review is planned for late October or early November, Mason said. If a decision is made that Lawrence doesn’t like, Mason said the plan is to create a situation where the personnel committee of the Circuit Court can take his appeal.
St. Louis Public Radio's Brian Munoz contributed to this report.
