SAINT LOUIS, MO (KMOX) - The indicted head of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen calls it quits.
Five days after he was indicted for bribery, and just 15 minutes before a demonstration was to begin in front of his home with protesters calling for his resignation, Lewis Reed issued his letter of farewell.
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Reed says, " I am heartbroken and saddened to have to make the difficult decision to step down..." "I cannot fulfill these duties," he says, "as I take the time to focus on my family and my current legal challenges."
Reed, 22nd Ward Alderman Jeffrey Boyd and 21st Ward Alderman John Collins-Muhammad appeared in Federal Court Thursday afternoon.
According to the 66-page indictment, between January of 2021 and March of this year, Collins-Muhammad accepted several thousand dollars in cash payments, campaign contributions, an automobile and other items in exchange for helping a business owner obtain tax increment financing for a gas station/convenience store on Geraldine Ave. in his ward. He also allegedly introduced the business owner to another public official who could help his company receive city contracts. Collins-Muhammad and the business owner agreed to split any profits from those contracts. Collins-Muhammad resigned from the board in May.
Reed also sits on the city's three member budget board, on the airport commission and the East-West Council of governments.
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