A Ferguson, Mo. judge who is accused of imposing harsh fines and fees on the city's residents while at the same time fixing traffic tickets for himself and colleagues was found to owe more than $170,000 in unpaid taxes, reported The Guardian.
Ronald J. Brockmeyer, 70, allegedly imposed heavy fines on impoverished residents who came through his court, reportedly sending those who were unable to pay the $100/month minimum payment to jail. But tax filings obtained by The Guardian reveal that Brockmeyer himself has apparently been unable to pay a number of outstanding debts to the U.S. government dating back to 2007.
The judge was singled out last week by Department of Justice investigators for using his court to increase revenue rather than serve the public good, which directly contributed to strained race relations between the city's majority African American residents and its overwhelmingly white public servants, according to the DOJ report.
Brockmeyer bragged about creating a number of new court fees, "many of which are widely considered abusive and may be unlawful," DOJ investigators reported. When a city councilman opposed the judge's reappointment, he was warned such opposition could "lead to loss of revenue."
At the same time Brockmeyer was imprisoning people "solely because the person could not afford to make a monetary payment," he owed $172,646 in taxes.
Furthermore, Brockmeyer was found to be dismissing citations for himself and friends while punishing residents for similar offenses.
The DOJ report revealed that Brockmeyer agreed to "take care" of a speeding ticket for a senior Ferguson police officer in August 2014, and when Brockmeyer received a red light camera ticket in a nearby city, he had it dismissed.
African Americans, who make up 67 percent of Ferguson's population, accounted for 93 percent of arrests made from 2012 to 2014, according to the report.
One woman who illegally parked on a single occasion was arrested twice between 2007 and 2014, spent six days in jail and paid $550 to the court. She even attempted to make partial payments twice, $25 once and $50 another time, "but the court returned those payments, refusing to accept anything less than payment in full," the report reads.
"The court treats a single missed, partial, or untimely payment as a missed appearance," the reported added. "In such a case, the court immediately issues an arrest warrant without any notice or opportunity to explain why a payment was missed.
"The evidence we have found shows that these arrest warrants are used almost exclusively for the purpose of compelling payment through the threat of incarceration ... As a result, there have been many cases in which a person has been arrested on a warrant, detained for 72 hours or more, and released owing the same amount as before the arrest was made."
Brockmeyer has served as a judge in Ferguson for 12 years, but also serves as prosecutor in two nearby cities - earning $600 per shift - and also as a private attorney, which legal experts called a conflict of interest.
