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ST. LOUIS — ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Attorney General Andrew Bailey on Tuesday demanded that embattled city Sheriff Alfred Montgomery resign by noon Wednesday or face a lawsuit seeking his removal from office.

Bailey said allegations of , questionable spending and failures to fulfill a key duty of the office could not stand.

“Sheriff Alfred Montgomery’s job is to secure the courthouse, protect detainees, and uphold public trust, not abuse taxpayer resources,� Bailey said in a statement. “This level of misconduct and instability demands immediate accountability.�

The message ratchets up the pressure on a sheriff who has already been dealing with a federal investigation, a big budget deficit, and more than a few elected officials questioning his ability to carry out his responsibilities. Two years ago, Bailey offered the same choice to then-St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner.

Gardner, under pressure from the Legislature as well, resigned three months later.

Montgomery, 28, said Tuesday he would not. He said the claims against him were false.

“I will not resign,� he said at a late afternoon courthouse press conference. “I have not been found guilty of any wrongdoing.�

He then turned around and went back into his office, without answering questions.

Retired Judge David Mason, who is working as the sheriff’s attorney, waved off groans from reporters. “The sheriff is smart enough to know that he cannot submit to a deposition by news media,� he said.

Meanwhile, retired Circuit Judge Robert Dierker, whose watchdog society called for action from Bailey last month, applauded Bailey’s move.

“The Holy Joe Society is very gratified,� Dierker said.

Alderman Michael Browning described the move as unfortunate but necessary. “It’s an incredibly serious thing to pursue the removal of an elected official,� he said. “But I think the conduct of the sheriff rises to that level.�

Alderman Matt Devoti agreed. He said it’s probably time officials consider making the sheriff’s job an appointed position, accountable to the court or the mayor.

But Alderman Rasheen Aldridge, who has known Montgomery for many years, felt the demand was an overreach. He conceded that Montgomery has made some serious mistakes. But it’s not as if the sheriff has stolen money.

“I don’t know that it rises to the level that the state needs to step in and tell him to resign,� Aldridge said.

Some previous removal efforts have followed criminal allegations. St. Louis Sheriff Benjamin L. Goins was removed with the procedure following a conviction on federal racketeering and tax evasion charges. License Collector Billie Boykins was ousted in 1989 in the wake of drug possession charges and an audit that found she had failed to collect millions of dollars in fees.

The pressure on Gardner came after a teenage girl from Tennessee was severely injured in a crash downtown. The man who caused the crash was out of jail with pending robbery charges despite repeated violations of his bond conditions.

Gardner refused the initial resignation demand, only to relent months later when state lawmakers filed a bill to strip her office of most of its power.

Bailey formally asked Montgomery to resign via a letter delivered shortly after noon Tuesday, staff said.

If Montgomery refuses to resign, it will kick off a legal battle in which Bailey will work to prove to a judge that Montgomery is either ineligible or unfit for office.

The proceedings would add to an already long list of trials for the sheriff. Since taking office in January, he has been investigated for ordering the handcuffing of a top jail official, sued after telling a deputy to roll golden dice for his job, and criticized for having a deputy from school.

And lately, he has been taking serious heat for firings that required the city to pay out more than $400,000 in accrued leave and purchases of $28,000 in new badges, $19,000 in new uniforms, $12,000 worth of used golf carts, and a $56,000 take-home SUV at a time when his office’s budget is in the red.

The Holy Joe Society wrote to Bailey, Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore and City Counselor Michael Garvin last month urging action. It said Montgomery broke laws when he ordered the handcuffing, debased his office with the golden dice roll, and misused public resources with the school pickups. It said he was also failing in his duty to properly staff courtrooms and transport inmates to courts and hospitals — a little more than a week before city officials accused the sheriff’s office of refusing a string of requests to take detainees to the hospital.

Bailey hit on some of the same topics on Tuesday.

“Throughout (Montgomery’s) tenure,� the release said, “the Sheriff’s Office has been repeatedly accused of (1) financial mismanagement, (2) workplace misconduct and abuse of authority, and (3) a failure to perform his duties.�

“Taken together,� the release continued, “these issues reflect a systemic failure to uphold the integrity of the office and have severely undermined public trust in law enforcement operations within the City.�