ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

A source close to the case confirmed the amount to the Post-Dispatch on Saturday.

Former assistant prosecutor Susan Petersen, in a lawsuit filed in 2020, accused former county Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell of discriminating against her because of her age, race and gender.

Bell now represents Missouri’s 1st Congressional District.

The monetary award to Petersen, approved by county attorneys Friday, put the total paid out by the county to at least $670,000 in connection with discrimination suits filed against Bell and his office.

Petersen, who worked as a county prosecutor for more than 20 years, claimed that she was among five white prosecutors older than 40 who either were forced out or quit in Bell’s first term as county prosecutor.

Previously, the Post-Dispatch has reported that three settlements with other prosecutors that Bell forced out in 2019 cost taxpayers at least $170,000.

The suit also claimed that Bell preferred to promote male employees over females and noted that his executive staff was composed of men.

Petersen’s lawsuit also claimed that Bell intervened, without talking with Petersen, in several cases and brokered lenient deals for Black defendants charged with violent crimes against police and a white victim.

One of those deals was with a Jennings man who received a 15-year term for shooting at four undercover police officers in 2017, the lawsuit says. The other case involved a Webster Groves woman who went to prison for 15 years on a reduced charge of manslaughter for fatally stabbing a man who was white.

The lawsuit claims Bell and his chief trial assistant, Robert Steele, both of whom are Black, disagreed with Petersen’s charging decision and plea offer and struck an agreement without consulting her.

Petersen was suspended with pay in September 2019 after she complained to her superiors about Bell and Steele’s interference, the lawsuit says.

The following month, Bell demoted her and sent her a written reprimand saying he had lost faith “in her ability to handle criminal cases and work with police officers on criminal cases (in) an honest, ethical and professional manner.�

The case, which was set to go to trial Monday, also was expected to raise other issues about Bell’s management of the office.

Bell last year fought against having to answer deposition questions about workplace-related sexual behavior.

On Jan. 29, 2024, Petersen’s lawyers asked “a deposed party� if he had ever been involved in sexual relationships with any employees in the prosecuting attorney’s office, including several specific employees. That party refused to answer the question on advice from attorneys.

Although the name of the person refusing to answer questions was redacted from court files, additional court filings which showed that Petersen’s lawyers did not depose anyone other than Bell on Jan. 29.

During Bell’s run for Congress, one of his Democratic opponents, former state legislator Maria Chapelle-Nadal, claimed publicly that Bell was having sexual relations with employees in his office.

Calling him “messy,� Chapelle-Nadal said on social media, “I strongly urge Wesley Bell to stop sleeping with ... subordinates in the prosecuting attorney’s office.�

In response to the deposition conflict, Petersen’s lawyers filed a motion in court, asking that Bell be required to answer the questions, arguing that the answers would illustrate the office’s general treatment of, and attitude toward, female employees.

In March, Circuit Judge Bruce Hilton agreed with Petersen’s attorneys and ordered the “deposed partyâ€� to answer. Hilton also ruled against ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County’s request to delay the trial and set a court date of April 15.

But shortly before that date, Petersen’s lawyers requested a postponement due to an illness in the family of one of her attorneys.

Neither the County Counselor’s office nor Jerome Dobson, Petersen’s lawyer, were immediately available Saturday for comment.

The settlement amount .

Bell defeated longtime county prosecutor Bob McCulloch in the August 2018 Democratic primary. In June 2023, he announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate; four months later, he pivoted to the 1st District race, where heavy spending by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee helped him defeat incumbent Cori Bush, an early proponent of a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.