Five former employees of the St. Louis Sheriff's Office have filed federal lawsuits against the City of St. Louis, accusing top brass of discrimination, retaliation and running a workplace they describe as petty and racially hostile. The complaints list Dawn Kehoe-Roop, Michael Gamache, Tiana Tolen, Anthony Evans and Timothy Haill as plaintiffs. Several of them say they spent decades on the job before, in their view, getting pushed to the exit.
According to St. Louis Public Radio, the suits were filed in federal court and contend that Kehoe-Roop was fired after submitting family-and-medical-leave paperwork, while Tolen was told she had “voluntarily resigned” after taking medical leave. The complaints allege race, age, gender and disability discrimination. One filing cites an alleged text message to Anthony Evans that reads, “that’s what you get you skinny black clown ass n----.” The plaintiffs are represented by a firm identified in the filings as Jungle Law.
What the lawsuits allege
The complaints paint a picture of a department where grudges and favoritism shaped personnel decisions, and where longtime staffers say supervisors sometimes humiliated them in front of colleagues. Reporting from the sheriff's removal trial describes a series of internal clashes, from disputed staffing moves to the detention of the jail's acting commissioner, that plaintiffs say mirror the turmoil that ultimately drove them out. Taken together, the courtroom testimony and the new federal filings describe entrenched dysfunction inside the office, as documented by St. Louis Magazine.
How this ties to the sheriff's broader legal troubles
The lawsuits arrive as former Sheriff Alfred Montgomery faces his own criminal and civil investigations tied to his time in office. A judge moved to remove Montgomery from the job late last year, and St. Louis Post-Dispatch coverage detailed the removal proceedings. Separate reporting from KMOX noted that a judge later revoked his bond and that he was taken into custody, where he remains while awaiting a federal trial.
Legal implications and next steps
The federal complaints allege violations of anti-discrimination laws and protections against retaliation related to medical leave, and they ask for damages and other relief from the court. If the cases clear early procedural hurdles, they could expose the city to civil liability and create a fresh legal front at the same time Montgomery's criminal matters play out. St. Louis Public Radio reviewed the filings and the lawyers representing the plaintiffs.
The complaints were only recently filed, and the court is expected to set deadlines for responses and motions in the coming weeks. We will track new filings and update as the federal case docket develops.
.jpg){kind=link}