Mayor known for pretending to be police officer busted on child sex crimes in Missouri

The mayor of Riverview, Missouri has been charged with multiple sex crimes. Mayor Michael Cornell Jr is now facing four counts of second-degree statutory sodomy, three counts of first-degree sodomy or attempted sodomy, one count of first-degree harassment and one count of possession of child pornography.

Cornell has been charged with nine felonies in total, and he was taken into custody on Thursday afternoon, according to Fox 2. St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Melissa Price Smith said that there are at least four victims in the case, including one who is a child. According to his bio on the city's website, Cornell joined the NAACP when he was 32 and has served on the "Environmental Justice Committee" for the city prior to becoming mayor.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Cornell has a habit of driving around in an unmarked police car, wearing an armored vest, and using a police badge in an effort to look like law enforcement.

The current charges date back as far as January 2016. The mayor, 39, has been involved in local government for the past few years, first becoming a trustee in 2022, and was then elected as mayor in 2024. Cornell has faced lawsuits in the past dealing with sexual harassment and other related misconduct.

“I think he portrayed himself as an individual who had power, who had prestige, and I think he used that to entice some of his victims," St. Louis County Police Lt. Colonel Jerry Lohr said in a press conference on Thursday. Price Smith says that there may also be additional victims in the case.

“If you are a victim or you know someone who is, please, please come forward,” said Price Smith. “Please contact the St. Louis County Police Bureau of Crime Against Persons.” The police department called the mayor's arrest "disturbing" in a statement.

“As the commander of the Riverview Police Department, I would like to say the charges brought against Mike Cornell Jr. are deeply disturbing. I want the ‘City of Riverview’ to know the Police Department stands with the residents of this community, and the victims of these heinous acts. Now that these traumatic incidents have been brought to our attention, we give our full support and cooperation to the Saint Louis County Police Department,” Riverview’s Acting Police Chief, Toreyon Times, said.

A former police chief of the small city who spoke to the Post Dispatch said of Cornell's "play the police" habit: "He pulls up in a police car with a badge on and the vest on and everything like he’s the police. Somebody who doesn't know who he is would see him and think that he is an officer."

Cornell, over two years, has had 30 city officials or officers leave the town, with many of them citing Cornell's behavior.