The mayor of tiny Riverview, Missouri is facing shocking new criminal sex assault charges, after previous allegations of predatory behavior.
In a case already drawing national attention, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office Thursday charged Michael Cornell Jr., 39, with:
- Four counts of Statutory Sodomy 2nd Degree
- Three counts of Sodomy or Attempted Sodomy 1st Degree
- One count of Harassment 1st Degree
- One count of Possession of Child Pornography
The charges, according to a St. Louis County Police Department press release, involve four confidential victims, including one minor between Dec. 1, 2016, and Dec. 1, 2017, and two who allege Cornell forcibly sodomized and injured them.
Victim 2’s account occurred during the same 2016-17 period as the minor’s, while Victim 3’s is alleged to have occurred only last month, between Dec. 20, 2025, and Dec. 21, 2025
Riverview Mayor Michael Cornell Jr.
Between Dec. 1, 2025, and Jan. 2, 2026, the press release says, Cornell “had a video on his cellular telephone depicting two juvenile males engaged in a sex act.”
The police department said Cornell is being held on an extremely rare “$1 million, cash-only, no 10% bond.”
Cornell has faced multiple other legal troubles, including “at least seven lawsuits filed against the city of Riverview, the mayor or both – just in the past two years,” reports KMOV First Alert 4 in St. Louis.
“These lawsuits claim instances of inappropriate touching, wrongful termination of employees, endangering first responder response times and questionable legal documents sent by local leaders,” the TV station writes.
In one case, Cornell allegedly went through the trouble of recruiting and hiring a carpenter from Fort Worth he saw on Facebook to work for Riverview’s Public Works Department maintenance and landscaping crew. The employee claims in a lawsuit against Riverview that Cornell fired him just a few days into his tenure after he rejected multiple sexual offers and tawdry advances from Cornell.
That lawsuit is set for trial July 26, KMOV reports.
Last May, a former Riverview area man was allegedly subpoenaed to appear before the Riverview Board of Aldermen to explain a joke he’d made about Cornell online. James Carroll, while commenting on a local missing youth, posted, “Someone Check Riverview Mayor’s Basement!”
Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), which is suing Riverview and Cornell, notes the subpoena signed by Cornell alleges the joke is “misuse of information regarding a missing juvenile”; “inciting violence against an elected official”; “Cyber Bullying of Riverview Residents”; and “Slander and Defamation of Character.”
FIRE contends the joke, in contrast, is merely protected speech – “satire about a public official” – under The First Amendment.
FIRE also alleges that in 2014 as a civilian employee, Cornell “was indicted for felony sex assault after he—was accused of “regularly pretending to be a police officer, grooming the alleged victim, who was 14 when they met, and then dominating his life by threatening harm and abusing him so he couldn’t leave.” Cornell ultimately pled guilty to misdemeanor impersonation of a police officer and the remaining charges were dropped.”
Cornell’s official bio on the Riverview website claims that “at age 21, he challenged some unethical and systematic unjust practices within the St. Louis Metro Police Department (SLMPD) as a civilian recruit in training that he later testified in a 2008 court disposition.
“Although he won and made a difference within the internal structure of the Police Department, he acknowledged that the discomfort and distrust of some colleagues within the Dept could lead to an unpredictable backlash.”
Among praise and even testimonials for Cornell, the bio claims he is:
- “considered a genuine leader of his generation.”
- “a professional in every aspect’
- “the Youngest and First African American Elected Official Trustee within the City of Riverview”
His bio notes his campaign slogan was “Leadership, Integrity, and Transparency,” or “L.I.T for Change.”
The bio says he majored in Criminal Justice at Mineral Area College, a junior college in Park Hills south of St. Louis.
Cornell was elected to the board in April 2022 and made chairman of the board of Trustees by his colleagues a year later. A month later the title was changed to mayor.
