North County Cop Kidnapped, Sexually Assaulted 8 Men

Seven more men have come forward to detail how officer Marcellis Blackwell handcuffed, fondled and even sodomized them

By Ryan Krull

Sep 28, 2023 at 9:41 am

Courtesy St. Louis County Jail

Booking photo for former police officer Marcellis Blackwell, now facing state and federal charges..

A former north St. Louis county police officer already facing state charges for sodomizing a jail detainee is now facing federal charges for allegedly abusing many more men in a similar fashion.

In June, Marcellis Blackwell, 34, who was then an officer with the North County Police Cooperative, was charged by St. Louis County prosecutors for sodomizing a handcuffed man. In that incident, Blackwell is accused of arresting a man, driving him to a "secluded area" not far from Normandy High School and fondling him.

In the wake of media coverage about those charges, federal authorities say that seven more men came forward to say that they had been sexually assaulted by Blackwell in incidents that began last November and continued until as recently as June.

Blackwell, who previously went by the name Willis Green Overstreet III, fondled the genitals of the eight men as well as sodomized one of them with his finger, federal prosecutors say.

Prosecutors say in court filings that the Blackwell's arrests of the men were functional kidnappings and that after taking them into his custody he turned off his body camera.

Prosecutors are asking for Blackwell to be kept in jail prior to his day in court, citing the fact that he “victimized people he thought would be less likely to report his behavior.”

There are likely more victims beyond the eight men thus far identified, prosecutors say. A search of the former police offier's phone turned up photos of additional, as-of-yet unidentified victims.

One month prior to the original charges against Blackwell, another North County Police Cooperative officer was charged with allowing his brother to beat up a man that had been handcuffed by the officer.

St. Louis Police Officer Handcuffed Man So His Brother Could Beat Him: "We have to hold police officers accountable," says Prosecutor Wesley Bell

Riverview Village supplied this photo of officers swarming the troubled Ridgeview Apartments on August 29.

Murder Suspect Hid Out in Condemned Ridgeview Apartments: Squatters have taken over most of the condemned complex in Riverview Village

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Ryan Krull

Ryan Krull is a staff writer for the Riverfront Times. Find him on Twitter @ryanwkrull

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