ST. LOUIS (AP) — Authorities allege that a former suburban St. Louis police officer who is charged with sexually assaulting several arrestees also covertly took photos of people in public bathrooms.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 34-year-old Marcellis Blackwell, of St. Louis, is not charged with the latest allegation. But federal prosecutors discussed the covert photographing allegation Monday in seeking to have him remain jailed until his trial.
Blackwell had worked for the North County Police Cooperative, which polices eight small municipalities, for just over a year when he was charged with taking some people he arrested to isolated areas before he turned off his body camera and abused them.
He faces 16 counts of deprivation of rights and five counts of altering records in a federal investigation. He was also charged in St. Louis County with arresting and sexually assaulting a handcuffed man near Normandy High School.
His lawyer argues that Blackwell has no criminal history and has an incentive to show up to court dates because he has family in the St. Louis region.
Prosecutors countered that Blackwell poses a safety concern if released. They alleged that he recorded men at urinals or in stalls from under a wall of an adjacent stall. They said some of those photos were taken while he was on duty as a police officer.
Blackwell also photographed about 120 personal IDs, mainly driver’s licenses, and kept them on his phone along with pictures of several Normandy High School student ID cards, federal prosecutors said.
A judge will rule at a later date if Blackwell should stay in jail until trial.
