Scandal-plagued mayor arrested for serious sex crimes — including alleged sodomy of a minor
Bill Oxford/Getty Images
Cornell, 39, has been inundated with accusations since before he was elected mayor in April 2024. He currently faces litigation related to sexual harassment, wrongful termination, gender discrimination, fostering a toxic work environment, and jokes on social media.
A former Riverview alderwoman also filed a suit after Cornell allegedly ordered her to be placed in handcuffs after she mentioned the sexual harassment allegations against him at a town hall meeting last February.
“I held up the court papers. I said, ‘Tell me why we’re being sued because you made sexual advances to an employee and when he refused, you fired him,'” Regina Davis said, according to KMOV, which has covered the accusations against Cornell extensively.
At least seven lawsuits have been filed against Cornell in just two years, the outlet noted.
Cornell has also recently made bizarre claims about members of the KKK vandalizing both public and private property in Riverview.
“I am writing to inform you of the disturbing markings and threats against the City of Riverview and its residents by racist and cowardly KKK affiliates throughout the night. Over the past six months, alarming KKK and hate-related markings or destruction of City property and churches in Riverview have been reported,” he posted to Facebook in December.
Additionally, Cornell issued KMOV a rambling seven-page letter on city letterhead, referring to not only the alleged KKK problem, but other wild allegations, including that the chief of police had orchestrated “conspiracies to blow my head off, commit a mass shooting, and then kill himself.”
Former Riverview Police Chief Thomas Tumbrink filed a lawsuit against Cornell and other officials in June, alleging wrongful termination.
In response to a request for comment on the lawsuits, Cornell told KMOV: “Just let the system play that out, and you just follow the facts, you understand? We’re not here to be choked in with the smoke. When the smoke clears, a lot of facts. And if you are someone with some type of integrity, follow the facts.”
Cornell’s bio on the Riverview website evinces a man obsessed with race and overly impressed with his resume. The first paragraph of many notes his “unmatched knowledge, courage, and strength, he has broken barriers and shattered ceilings at such a young age counting back over 20 years.”
Cornell also brags about his call for “environmental justice” and greater “integrity” and “transparency.”
Among other accomplishments, he claims to be the “youngest and First African American” chairman of the Riverview Board of Trustees and that in 2022, he became a “State Licensed Private Investigator.”
A public records request to the state law enforcement licensing agency revealed that Cornell had a peace officer license that has since “expired.” Cornell pled guilty to one count of impersonating an officer in 2017, but his record was later expunged, KMOV said.
Through a public records request, Blaze News learned that while Cornell has been registered to vote in Missouri since at least September 2020 and has cast a vote 10 times since then, he is not registered with a particular political party.
Riverview City Hall did not respond to a request for comment.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.