A former St. Louis-area police officer was accused this week in a federal indictment of groping eight men he’d handcuffed and sexually abusing one of them, prosecutors said Thursday.
Marcellis Blackwell, 34, of St. Louis, was indicted on 21 felony counts Wednesday, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri said.
Blackwell was an officer for the North County Police Cooperative, a law enforcement agency that serves several communities in north St. Louis County. He was arrested on a state charge in June on an allegation that he sodomized a man with a finger, NBC affiliate KSDK of St. Louis reported.
The federal indictment includes that allegation, and it also alleges that Blackwell groped the genital areas of eight men he’d handcuffed or detained, including the victim in the state case.
Blackwell has pleaded not guilty in the state case, court records show. He hasn’t had a first appearance or entered a plea in the federal case, according to online court records.
The incidents outlined in the federal indictment are alleged to have occurred from Nov. 8 to June 5, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
Blackwell is charged with 16 counts of deprivation of rights under color of law and five counts of altering records in a federal investigation, the office said.
Online federal court records didn’t appear to show an attorney for Blackwell on Thursday night.
An attorney listed as representing Blackwell in the state case didn’t immediately respond to a voicemail seeking comment late Thursday.
Blackwell began working at the police cooperative on May 31, 2022, prosecutors said in a motion to have him jailed until trial.
After his arrest June 7 in connection with one of the alleged victims, the seven other men came forward, prosecutors said in the motion. Blackwell made over 80 arrests during his time at the police department, it says.
The North County Police Cooperative didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment late Thursday.
Police Maj. Ron Martin has said the cooperative started an investigation as soon as it learned of the allegations and turned it over to the St. Louis County prosecutor, KSDK reported at the time of the state charge.
Martin said at the time that the allegations were “massively disheartening” and that the agency holds its officers accountable for their actions.
“We can reassure the community we expect the members of this law enforcement agency to conduct their duties with diligence, transparency, professionalism and within the law,” he said, according to KSDK.
U.S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming asked any additional potential victims to contact his office or the FBI in St. Louis.
“We still have not identified all of the men who appear in recordings on the defendant’s phone,” he said in a statement.
