Police say mayor's son had a vape during strip club clash. Others say he had a gun.

An altercation at a strip club involving the son of a local mayor who also heads the 911 program for St. Clair County raised the question: Did the suspect pull a handgun or a vapor cigarette from his front pants pocket?

The question was important to Jerame Simmons, a 38-year-old felon convicted of arson, because if there was probable cause that he had held a gun he could have been charged with another felony. Instead, he was charged with a Class C disorderly conduct misdemeanor that is still winding its way through St. Clair County Court.

Simmons received supervision with no jail time and, if he does not commit another crime and pays $200 to the court by the end of the supervision period, will not be punished further.

But instead of examining a copy of the surveillance video from the Country Rock Cabaret, Sauget Police Chief James Jones relied on the word of the club's manager, who told a detective that the tape did not clearly show a gun. And club employees who came out into the parking lot to watch were not interviewed by police.

Simmons is the son of East Carondelet Mayor Herb Simmons, who also directs the county 911 program. Jerame Simmons could not be reached for comment. Herb Simmons said he did not know his son's exact address, and other Simmons family members who live in East Carondelet also said they did not know where Jerame Simmons lived.

Jerame Simmons told Sauget officers that while he threatened Jason Anthony, the cabaret manager, his fist held only a vapor cigarette, not a gun. Most vapor cigarettes, which are used as an alternative to smoking, are in the form of a colorful metal tube about the thickness of a pistol barrel. But they do not come with a gun-like grip.

Jerame Simmons is quoted in a police report as telling Anthony that he would "smoke" him with his fist.

But Anthony saw things differently, and became so concerned that he ordered his staff back into the club for their safety and called 911.

Anthony said that after he had picked up Jerame Simmons' wife, Chrissy, whom Anthony said had become disruptive and tried to fight a male cabaret patron, he took her outside and set her down. A police report said Anthony was then immediately accosted by Jerame Simmons.

According to a report taken shortly after the March 11 incident, Anthony said Simmons had yelled, "I'm a police officer," and then pulled a handgun that he pointed at the manager while stating, "It's on. It's on then." Anthony told Patrolman Renee Sherman that Simmons was identified by the club's bartender, who knew him from "... prior incidents."

Simmons and his wife got into a car and left before police arrived. However, nine days later Simmons went to the Sauget Police Department at the request of Detective Vito Parisi, who wrote the report. Simmons told Parisi that his wife had indeed become involved in an argument with a patron known as "Bo," but had been held back by a dancer named, "Sadie." Outside, he said he told Anthony never to touch his wife and shook his fist at the club manager while, "...holding a vapor cigarette."

Jones, the police chief, said that it is the department's policy during cases that did not involve felonies like robbery or shootings to take the word of the club managers when it came to reviewing surveillance video.

"I believe he was holding a vapor cigarette," Jones said.

Despite Jones' belief, the official Sauget police report of the case is titled, "Re: Disturbance involving handgun." The summons to appear issued to Jerame Simmons states he was guilty of disorderly conduct by, "... pointing an object at Jason Anthony, where Jason Anthony believed he could be shot." Anthony could not be reached.

Michael Ocello, who heads the company that owns the cabaret and strip clubs in other states, said surveillance tapes are always made available to police if they ask for them. He said the tape in question had been erased because they are usually not kept for longer than a month or two.

"Agencies sometimes ask us for tapes, including the FBI. We always give them to them," Ocello said.

Jerame Simmons has a prior felony conviction for arson in 1998 for which he received and successfully completed probation. At this time he was also charged with aggravated attempted arson, an "X" felony, but this was dismissed as part of a plea bargain. He was a volunteer fireman at the time for the Prairie DuPont department.

According to a court document in the attempted arson case, Simmons went to the basement of Dupo High School, gathered "toilet paper and ceiling tiles," and lit them on fire knowing that a woman was present in the building. The fire did not lead to a larger fire and no one was injured.

On his guilty plea to arson and having an illegal "oscillating emergency light" on his personal vehicle, Simmons received four years of intensive probation.

Simmons' Facebook page states that he worked as a volunteer at several area fire departments, including Midway Fire Department. A fireman at the department said Simmons no longer worked there. The Facebook page also stated that he was East Carondelet's Director of Public Safety, but his father, the mayor, said his son has never had that position.

In 2008 in Monroe County, Simmons was charged with several offenses related to an order of protection filed against him by his wife. One charge was impersonating a police officer, but that was dismissed in return for his guilty plea to a misdemeanor involving violating the order of protection.

This story was originally published June 29, 2018 at 6:00 AM.