Lewis Reed: Bribery Charges, Guilty Plea, and 45-Month Sentence

The Lewis Reed bribery case ended with the former president of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen pleading guilty in August 2022 to a federal bribery charge and being sentenced that December to 45 months in prison. Reed admitted taking about $18,000 in cash and campaign contributions from a local gas station owner in exchange for pushing through property tax abatements, minority-business certification, and city trucking work.¹

What Reed Was Charged With

A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Missouri returned the indictment on May 25, 2022, and it was unsealed on June 2. Reed was charged alongside two sitting aldermen, Jeffrey Boyd of the 21st Ward and John Collins-Muhammad of the 22nd Ward.²

Prosecutors said Reed accepted $6,000 in cash and $3,500 in campaign contributions during his 2020 mayoral run from a local businessman later identified as Mohammed Almuttan. In return, he backed a tax abatement for Almuttan’s planned gas station developments in north St. Louis, helped him win certification as a minority-owned business, and assisted with a city trucking contract. At one point Reed told Almuttan to slow construction so the abatement could be finalized before the property’s assessed value climbed.³

Reed also took $9,000 in cash to help with a separate property tax abatement bid and promised, at one point, to override a mayoral veto so the legislation would pass.⁴

The Wider Scheme

Collins-Muhammad worked as the middleman. He introduced Almuttan to public officials, collected finder’s fees for setting up meetings, and moved tax abatement proposals through the St. Louis Development Corporation and the Board of Aldermen. His take included $7,000 in cash, $3,000 in campaign contributions, a new iPhone, and a 2016 Volkswagen. He also kept $2,500 that was meant as a bribe for another official and used it to buy himself a Chevrolet Trailblazer.⁴ In one recorded conversation, he told Almuttan that Reed had to be paid: “If you don’t throw him something, he’ll never come back.”

Boyd took $9,500 in cash plus free repairs on his personal vehicles. Prosecutors said he coached Almuttan to submit a “low-ball bid” of $16,000 on a city-owned property listed at $50,000, then sponsored legislation granting a ten-year, 95 percent property tax break for the planned development.³ Boyd faced additional wire fraud charges over an insurance scheme with Almuttan involving fabricated vehicle records and a false claim to Burlington Insurance Company, which the insurer denied.⁵

How the FBI Made the Case

The investigation was built on undercover recordings and surveillance photographs of the aldermen accepting bribes. According to court records, all three lied to FBI agents when first questioned and only acknowledged their conduct after being confronted with the audio and photos.⁶

Resignation and Guilty Plea

Reed at first said he would not step down and briefly handed off some duties, including presiding over board meetings, to 10th Ward Alderman Joe Vollmer. On June 7, 2022, five days after the indictment was unsealed, he resigned. He cited the need to “focus on my family and my current legal challenges” and a desire to “ensure a fully functional city government.”⁷

All three defendants pleaded guilty in August 2022. Reed’s plea agreement required him to pay restitution and forfeit pension benefits earned after August 28, 2014.¹

Sentencing

On December 6, 2022, U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark sentenced Reed and Collins-Muhammad to 45 months in federal prison each. Boyd received 36 months for the bribery and wire fraud counts combined.⁶ Reed was also ordered to pay $18,500 in fines and serve three years of supervised release.⁸ Collins-Muhammad was fined $19,500 and Boyd $23,688.

At sentencing, Judge Clark told the defendants, “What troubles me the most was the ease with which you committed these crimes.” Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith said the aldermen had treated bribery as “simply business as usual.”⁹

Where Reed Is Now

By mid-2024, Reed had been moved from federal prison to the St. Louis Residential Reentry Management field office, a halfway house, and was petitioning to have the rest of that time converted to supervised release. His scheduled release from federal custody is August 9, 2025.¹⁰ Collins-Muhammad was on a similar timeline. Boyd had already been fully released after completing a residential reentry program in early 2024.¹¹

Who Reed Was Before the Case

Reed was first elected to the Board of Aldermen in 1999, representing the 6th Ward. In 2007 he defeated incumbent Jim Shrewsbury for board president, becoming the first African American to hold the seat, and he was reelected in 2011, 2015, and 2019.⁷ He ran for mayor three times without winning, most recently in the 2021 approval-voting primary, where he finished third and did not carry a single ward.¹² He held the board presidency for fifteen years before resigning in June 2022.

1
St. Louis Public Radio. Former St. Louis Aldermen Boyd, Reed Admit to Their Role in Bribery Scheme
2
Missouri Independent. St. Louis Board President Lewis Reed and Two Aldermen Indicted on Federal Bribery Charges
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St. Louis Public Radio. St. Louis Board President Lewis Reed and Two Aldermen Indicted on Federal Bribery Charges
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U.S. Department of Justice. Former St. Louis Alderman Admits Taking Cash, Car, Phone Bribes
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U.S. Department of Justice. Jeffrey Boyd Plea Agreement
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U.S. Department of Justice. Three Former St. Louis Aldermen Sentenced to Prison for Corruption
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St. Louis Public Radio. Lewis Reed Resigns
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Fox 2 Now. Lewis Reed Gets 45 Months in Bribery Scheme Case
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St. Louis Public Radio. Former St. Louis Aldermen Sentenced in Corruption Scheme
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Spectrum News. Former St. Louis Aldermen Released From Federal Prison
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KMOV. Former St. Louis Aldermen Lewis Reed, John Collins-Muhammad Released From Prison
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The Appeal. The St. Louis Mayoral Race Reflects a Progressive Shift in Local Politics