ST. CHARLES, Mo. – Prosecuting Attorney Tim Lohmar is stepping down from his position in St. Charles County. He issued a lengthy statement to announce his retirement from public office. He is going into private practice.
Lohmar says that the decision to leave office has been coming for several months. He is in the middle of his term and does not feel that he can give the job the energy it needs.
Lohmar was arrested last summer for a DUI near the Lake of the Ozarks. The details of the arrest may have impacted his future work as a prosecutor. He attempted to flash a badge at the officer and refused sobriety tests. It does not appear that he was formally charged in this case.
Statement released by the St. Charles County Prosecutor’s Office:
For the past 12 years, I have had the privilege of serving the citizens of St. Charles County, first as an elected judge, and for the last 10 years as the elected Prosecuting Attorney. I am proud of what we have accomplished during this tenure in protecting the St. Charles County community and consider it to be one of the greatest honors of my life. This community has honorable police officers, dedicated prosecutors and staff, and, perhaps most importantly, citizens, who support the law enforcement community.
We have accomplished a lot together:
- We established the Special Victims Unit, the first of its kind, by assembling a team of individuals dedicated to prosecuting sexual offenders, child abusers and domestic abusers.
- We worked with the Criminal Interdiction Task Force, a collaborative effort of law enforcement departments across the County whose mission is to eradicate motor vehicle thefts and vehicle break-ins.
- We took a zero-tolerance approach to violent crime by seeking high bonds and mandatory prison sentences for weapons offenses and gun violence.
- We were part of solving several cold cases, the most significant of which to me was the Angie Housman case, finally bringing her killer to justice after 27 years.
- We attracted and retained excellent lawyers and staff for the office, we worked well with the judges of the 11th Judicial Circuit and the police departments of St. Charles County, and we did our part to ensure that our community was a pillar in this region.
Today, I am announcing that I am retiring from public office, and I am excited to say that I will be entering the private practice of law. St. Charles County will always be my home, and I look forward to continuing to be a part of serving this community in different ways.
Inevitably, there will be questions about my decision and about its timing mid-term. Let me answer them this way: this is not a sudden decision nor an easy one. The job of prosecuting attorney is rewarding, challenging, and at times grueling. My family and I came to the conclusion several months ago that it was time for me to consider other professional opportunities as I realized I could no longer give this job the energy and attention it requires and still have time for my family and for my own health and well-being. I did not want to shortchange my colleagues, my family, the people of St. Charles, or myself. Because of that, we knew it was time to begin a new chapter.
By law, the County Executive is vested with the authority to appoint the successor to this Office, subject to the approval of the Council. I am confident the person chosen will continue the outstanding work that my team has accomplished throughout my tenure for the citizens of St. Charles County. I also wish to extend my sincerest gratitude to the County Executive for his personal confidences in me, and his support of law enforcement and community safety. We are very fortunate to live in a County with outstanding leadership.
I will be forever humbled and grateful to have been given the responsibility and opportunity by voters to do my part to ensure that St. Charles County is truly one of the very best places to live and raise a family.
To all who have played a role along the way, I thank them from my heart.
