ST. LOUIS — Prominent names in ºüÀêÊÓƵ business and government have written letters in support of three former aldermen set to be sentenced Tuesday on federal corruption charges.
Former Aldermanic President Lewis Reed and former aldermen John Collins-Muhammad and Jeffrey Boyd admitted in August to accepting bribes from a local convenience store owner in exchange for tax breaks. They all face potential prison time.
A bevy of community leaders has submitted letters to the court to ask for leniency for Reed, including a ºüÀêÊÓƵ teacher’s union president, a major downtown developer, former Mayor Francis Slay’s former chief of staff and a former lawyer for the Board of Aldermen. Collins-Muhammad received support from local leaders and a former assistant police chief, and two aldermen and two state legislators urged leniency for Boyd.
Prosecutors plan to ask for prison sentences for all three men, arguing in a court filing the former officials’ acceptance of thousands of dollars in bribes constituted a “picture of greed.â€
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The former aldermen will ask the judge to consider probation.
“When assessing punishment, counsel contends that John’s punishment began the day he resigned from office in disgrace,†Collins-Muhammad’s attorney wrote in a filing. “He is no longer a rising star, but now a pariah.â€
In court filings, attorneys outlined how each of the men overcame their own obstacles — poverty, homelessness, familial strife and post-traumatic stress disorder — to hold office.
Lewis Reed
Reed, 62, grew up in a “dysfunctional, low-income†household, according to a filing from his attorneys. His parents struggled with alcoholism, and he was kicked out of the house at 15.
Reed was homeless until he found work as a nighttime janitor at a mall. He also worked at a bike shop, fruit stand and at bars shining shoes on the weekends. With the money he made, he moved in with a relative and was able to graduate from high school on time.
Reed attended Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, got married and had a child. Years later, his brother was murdered in Joliet, Illinois. He divorced his wife and lived in his car for a time so he could give most of his money to his ex-wife to support his two daughters.
In 1991, Reed met his second wife. The following year, they bought a dilapidated home that they wanted to refurbish.
“At the time, the neighborhood was blighted with crime, and the home rehabilitation process required Reed and his wife to navigate a byzantine bureaucracy,†court filings said.
He ran for alderman in 1999, and in 2007, he was elected president.
In 2021, Reed was recorded on multiple occasions taking money from a called “John Doe†who co-owned and operated several gas stations and convenience stores in north ºüÀêÊÓƵ and ºüÀêÊÓƵ County. The Post-Dispatch later identified him as Mohammad Almuttan.
Almuttan gave Reed a total of $18,500 for helping secure tax abatements and helping win city contracts and a special certification for Doe’s trucking company.
Reed was indicted alongside Collins-Muhammad and Boyd on corruption charges in June.
But Reed’s attorneys argued the bribes were just one big blemish on an otherwise outstanding career in service. For example, they wrote, Reed brought a violence prevention program to the city, established policies on police use of force and “no-knock†warrants, led during the COVID-19 pandemic and spurred an effort to bring Major League Soccer to ºüÀêÊÓƵ.
Reed unsuccessfully ran for mayor three times, once against Slay, whose former chief of staff, Jeff Rainford, wrote Reed a letter of support.
Rainford highlighted Reed’s status as a political moderate who was willing to consider several efforts, including a controversial, failed effort to privatize ºüÀêÊÓƵ Lambert International Airport.
“I know little about the matter before this court,†Rainford wrote. “I do know even good people can do wrong. It has been my experience when people suffer humiliation — maybe especially when they bring it on themselves — they become more humble and live different, better lives.â€
Also appearing among Reed’s letters of support are lobbyist and former Board of Aldermen lawyer David W. Sweeney; Walter Knoll Florist owner Charles Knoll; ºüÀêÊÓƵ teacher’s union President Ray Cummings; Timothy J. McGowan, the owner of major downtown developer McGowan Brothers Development; former ºüÀêÊÓƵ police Assistant Chief Lawrence O’Toole; and former city parks Commissioner Gary Bess.
“In all my interactions with Lewis both professionally and personally, I never questioned his moral compass,†Sweeney wrote. “The current circumstances do not lead me to believe that this is in any way reflective of his long distinguished service to the city of ºüÀêÊÓƵ.â€
John Collins-Muhammad
Collins-Muhammad’s attorneys shared in court filings the story of how their client became one of the youngest aldermen in the city’s history — and the first Muslim.
“John grew up angry,†his court filing said.
He had a mother who abused drugs and a father who eventually died in prison. Collins-Muhammad didn’t know his mother’s last name until he read his federal pre-sentencing investigation.
Collins-Muhammad was primarily raised by his grandmother. When she died, he was adopted by his aunt and his cousin, Harris-Stowe State University President LaTonia Collins Smith. He got married and cares for five children in a blended family.
In 2017, Collins-Muhammad was elected to the Board of Aldermen — a job he saw as a stepping stone to higher office, court filings said.
But he eventually was approached by Doe for a project that Collins-Muhammad’s attorneys said he would’ve supported anyway, according to the filings. He accepted thousands of dollars in bribes and also received a new iPhone and a Volkswagen CC sedan in exchange for his help sponsoring property tax bills.
Collins-Muhammad was caught connecting Almuttan with his co-defendants, Reed and Boyd.
“In the process, John unwittingly helped uncover corruption in the city, and the city is better off for it,†his attorney wrote.
In letters to the judge, family members, former Officer O’Toole, and Jeff Smith, a former state senator who spent time in prison for lying to the FBI and now heads the Missouri Workforce Housing Association, urged the judge to consider Collins-Muhammad’s life and passion for service when issuing a sentence.
“I still believe he has the capacity to learn lessons from this experience and find other ways to serve his community,†Smith wrote. “John temporarily lost sight of his moral compass but John’s mistakes, as serious as they were, should not define him as a person or politician.â€
Jeffrey Boyd
Boyd enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1982 and served until he was honorably discharged in 1990. He served in the Army Reserve until 2005.
When he was just 18, he was assaulted by a staff sergeant and was later diagnosed with PTSD. He was prescribed medications but frequently self-medicated with alcohol, court filings said.
Still, Boyd had been in public service for nearly two decades. He also has remained married to his second wife for 32 years and has three children.
Last year, Boyd helped Doe purchase a commercial property in his ward on Geraldine Avenue for much less than it was worth, then helped Doe secure tax breaks. He also admitted to seeking $22,000 from an insurance company for damage to vehicles that he falsely claimed to own.
In letters to the judge, Aldermen Joe Vollmer and Joe Vaccaro, as well as former state Rep. Chris Carter and sitting state Sen. Karla May, testified to Boyd’s years of public service.
“It is my hope that these transgressions don’t overshadow years of public service that has impacted countless individuals in a positive way,†May wrote. “I strongly feel the city of ºüÀêÊÓƵ has benefitted from the contributions of Alderman Jeffrey Boyd.â€
All three men are set to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark in consecutive hearings beginning at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.