Ex-police chief waits to be U.S. marshal

ST. LOUIS -- Former Police Chief Ron Henderson will work his last day for the St. Louis Police Department on Monday, the department said. Meanwhile, he waits for an expected nomination from President Bush to serve as U.S. marshal.

Henderson, 54, resigned as chief in May but stayed on the payroll and kept his full salary of $90,000 a year when the Police Board appointed him secretary to the board. The deal allowed Henderson to finish out his 30 years with the department, making him eligible for an annual pension estimated at $65,000.

Henderson and the board said he was staying on to help train his successor, Joe Mokwa, named the new chief in June.

If Bush names Henderson to the marshal's job, he'll get about $115,000 a year in the federal post.

The job is a political one, usually controlled by the state's senior politician from the president's party. A spokeswoman for Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., said Friday that the White House still was reviewing the appointment.

In February, Henderson said he expected the review to last as long as a year.

On Friday, police department spokesman Richard Wilkes said that Henderson had decided to retire effective Monday to care for his ailing father.

"Staying through the transition and leaving the department at year's end had been his plan all along," Wilkes said. "He wants to take some time off and care for his father. He doesn't have any concerns about the status of the other job."

Henderson joined the force in 1972. When the Police Board appointed him chief in December 1995, he was a lieutenant colonel in charge of the traffic, mobile reserve and juvenile units.

Flora Gant has been the acting U.S. marshal in St. Louis since 1999, after former marshal Floyd Kimbrough retired. The marshal's service pursues fugitives, protects the federal courts, transports federal prisoners and protects endangered court witnesses.