Jones v. Steele Police

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

SOUTHEASTERN DIVISION

MATTHEW JONES, )

)

Plaintiff, )

)

v. ) No. 1:23-CV-218 ACL

)

STEELE POLICE, )

)

Defendant. )

OPINION, MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Plaintiff Matthew Jones, a self-represented litigant, seeks leave to proceed in forma

pauperis in this civil action brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Having reviewed the motion

and the financial information submitted in support, the Court will grant the motion. See 28 U.S.C.

§ 1915(b)(1). Furthermore, after reviewing the complaint, the Court will dismiss this action as

frivolous and for failure to state a claim. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B).

Legal Standard on Initial Review

Under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2), the Court is required to dismiss a complaint filed in forma

pauperis if it is frivolous or malicious, fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, or

seeks monetary relief against a defendant who is immune from such relief. To state a claim for

relief, a complaint must plead more than “legal conclusions” and “[t]hreadbare recitals of the

elements of a cause of action [that are] supported by mere conclusory statements.” Ashcroft v.

Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009). A plaintiff must demonstrate a plausible claim for relief, which

is more than a “mere possibility of misconduct.” Id. at 679. “A claim has facial plausibility when

the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the

defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id. at 678. Determining whether a complaint

states a plausible claim for relief is a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to

draw on its judicial experience and common sense. Id. at 679.

When reviewing a complaint filed by a self-represented person under 28 U.S.C. § 1915,

the Court accepts the well-pleaded facts as true, White v. Clark, 750 F.2d 721, 722 (8th Cir.

1984), and it liberally construes the complaint. Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94 (2007);

Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520 (1972). A “liberal construction” means that if the essence of

an allegation is discernible, the district court should construe the plaintiff’s complaint in a way

that permits the claim to be considered within the proper legal framework. Solomon v. Petray,

795 F.3d 777, 787 (8th Cir. 2015). However, even self-represented plaintiffs are required to

allege facts which, if true, state a claim for relief as a matter of law. Martin v. Aubuchon, 623

F.2d 1282, 1286 (8th Cir. 1980); see also Stone v. Harry, 364 F.3d 912, 914-15 (8th Cir. 2004)

(refusing to supply additional facts or to construct a legal theory for the self-represented

plaintiff).

The Complaint

Pro se plaintiff Matthew Jones has filed a complaint against the Steele Police Department

in Cottonwood, Missouri,1 alleging that he was sexually abused in the year 2000 by multiple law

enforcement agencies between his home in Delaware, his aunt’s church in Georgia, and upon their

return to Delaware. As a result of the alleged serial abuse, he suffered multiple “deaths,” and “[t]o

resurrect [him] from the dead each time, a 250 year old tree needed to be converted into medicine

as well as the plants that only grow around them.” As explained below, it is clear from both the

fantastical allegations, as well as plaintiff’s extensive litigation history, that his complaint is

1There is no actual town called Cottonwood, Missouri. However, there is a town called Steele, Missouri,

in Pemiscot, County Missouri. There is also a Cottonwood Point located within the Township of

Pemiscot, a minor civil division of Pemiscot County, Missouri. Steele Police Department, however, is

located in Steele, Missouri.

frivolous. As such, his complaint will be dismissed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B) as

frivolous and for failure to state a claim.

Discussion

Plaintiff Matthew Jones, a citizen of the State of Delaware, appears pro se and seeks leave

to proceed in forma pauperis. He initiated this case on December 8, 2023, against the Steele Police

Department. Plaintiff claims that he was “raped anally and tortured at the end of June, beginning

of July, in the year 2000, by the Steele Police Department, “after [his] capt[ors] told the arresting

officer this story at a speeding traffic stop.” This is the sum of plaintiff’s claims against defendant

in the complaint.

In the complaint, plaintiff raises claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 based on alleged violations

of his rights under the First, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution,

the Federal Tort Claims Act2, and state-law negligence.

Federal courts are required to review complaints filed by persons who are proceeding in

forma pauperis and to dismiss any action that is frivolous, malicious or fails to state a claim on

which relief may be granted. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B). A court’s sua sponte dismissal of in

forma pauperis cases “discourage the filing of, and waste of judicial and private resources upon,

baseless lawsuits that paying litigants generally do not initiate because of the costs of bringing suit,

and because of the threat of sanctions for bringing vexatious suits under Fed. R. Civ. P. 11.” Neitzke

v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 327 (1989).

2As plaintiff claims action by state officers of the Steele Police Department, the Federal Tort Claims Act

does not apply in this instance. Rather, the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) “waives federal sovereign

immunity for injuries caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee of the

Government while acting within the scope of his office or employment, under circumstances where the

United States, if a private person, would be liable.” Newcombe v. United States, 933 F.3d 915, 917 (8th

Cir. 2019).

The Court finds no legal basis for plaintiff’s claims against the Steele Police Department.

First, the Steele Police Department is a department or subdivision of local government, and not a

juridical entity, suable as such. Ketchum v. City of West Memphis, Ark., 974 F.2d 81, 82 (8th Cir.

1992) (affirming dismissal of West Memphis Police Department and West Memphis Paramedic

Services because they were “not juridical entities suable as such”). See also Owens v. Scott Cty.

Jail, 328 F.3d 1026, 1027 (8th Cir. 2003) (stating that “county jails are not legal entities amenable

to suit”); and De La Garza v. Kandiyohi Cty. Jail, 18 Fed. Appx. 436, 437 (8th Cir. 2001)

(affirming district court dismissal of county jail and sheriff’s department as parties because they

are not suable entities). Accordingly, plaintiff’s claims against the Steele Police Department are

subject to dismissal.

Next, even if the claims are raised under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violating plaintiff’s

constitutional rights, the claims are time barred. The statute of limitations for § 1983 claims is

borrowed from the forum state’s personal injury statute. Walker v. Barrett, 650 F.3d 1198, 1205

(8th Cir. 2011). See also Anderson v. City of Minneapolis, 934 F.3d 876, 880 (8th Cir. 2019)

(determining that statute of limitations for § 1983 case arising in Minnesota “comes from the

state’s personal injury statute”). For cases arising in Missouri, the five-year statute of limitations

for personal injury actions found in Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.120(4) applies to § 1983 actions. Sulik v.

Taney Cty., Mo., 393 F.3d 765, 767 (8th Cir. 2005). While the statute of limitations is an

affirmative defense, a district court may properly dismiss an in forma pauperis complaint under 28

U.S.C. § 1915 when it is apparent the statute of limitations has expired. Myers v. Vogal, 960 F.2d

750, 751 (8th Cir. 1992). As such, plaintiff’s claims in this lawsuit brought pursuant to § 1983

against defendant are time-barred.

Last, plaintiff has an extensive litigation history surrounding the instant claims for relief.

Plaintiff has alleged in numerous cases across the nation that he was forcibly transported through

Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama,

Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland, and

back to Delaware, and that he was frequently, routinely and violently sexually assaulted by law

enforcement officials in each state. While the Court does not take such allegations lightly, the sheer

scope of the allegations, coupled with his subsequent allegation of multiple resurrections from the

dead by magical means, cast them in a different light from other allegations of sexual abuse.

The Supreme Court has further explained that the statute authorizing proceedings in forma

pauperis gives the Court “the unusual power to pierce the veil of the complaint’s factual allegations

and dismiss those claims whose factual contentions are clearly baseless.” Neitzke, 490 U.S. at 327.

“[A] finding of factual frivolousness is appropriate when the facts alleged rise to the level of the

irrational or the wholly incredible, whether or not there are judicially noticeable facts available to

contradict them.” Denton v. Hernandez, 504 U.S. 25, 33 (1992). “Federal courts have both the

inherent power and the constitutional obligation to protect their jurisdiction from conduct which

impairs their ability to carry out Article III functions.” Procup v. Strickland, 792 F.2d 1069, 1073-

74 (11th Cir. 1986) (en banc). Plaintiff’s complaint is a paradigm of the kind of frivolous filing this

Court can, and indeed must, protect itself against.

Although the complaint itself betrays that it is the product of a troubled litigant, its character

is confirmed by a review of plaintiff’s litigation history. The earliest case that the Court can

identify filed by “Matthew N. Jones,” with the same address as plaintiff, dates to 2015. See Jones

v. Delaware Techincal & Community College, 1:15-cv-00198-RGA (D. Del. Mar. 3, 2015). The

allegations in that complaint are frivolous. Id. The Honorable Richard G. Andrews noted that a

2020 case plaintiff filed was “yet another lawsuit plaintiff has filed following an involuntary

hospitalization in November 2017.” Jones v. Deputy Attorney General Valerie Farnan, 1:20-cv-

00818-RGA (D. Del. Nov. 4, 2020). The District of Delaware’s docket notes forty “related cases,”

all filed by Jones. See generally 1:20-cv-00818-RGA (D. Del.). A search of the United States

Courts’ Public Access to Court Electronic Records system (“PACER”) shows that Jones has filed

thirty-two cases across multiple districts in this year alone.3 The United States District Court for

the District of New Hampshire summarized the factual allegations in one of those complaints as

follows:

3See Jones v. Vermont State Police, 2:23-cv-00018-wks (D. Vt. Jan. 23, 2023); Jones v. Town of

Bennington Police Department, 2:23-cv-00019-wks (D. Vt. Jan. 23, 2023); Jones v. Lamoille Cnty.

Sheriff’s Dept., 2:23-cv-00020-wks(D. Vt. Jan. 26, 2023); Jones v. Vermont State Police, 2:23-cv-00021-

wks (D. Vt. Jan. 26, 2023); Jones v. Shah, 1:23- cv-00925-RGA (D. Del. Aug. 23, 2023); Jones v.

Chidiak, 1:23-cv-00998-RGA (D. Del.Sept. 8, 2023); Jones v. Avalon Police Department, 1:23-cv-20981-

KMW-SAK (D.N.J.Oct. 6, 2023); Jones v. Trenton New Jersey Police Department, 3:23-cv-21173-

MASJBD (D.N.J. Oct. 13, 2023); Jones v. Ridgefield New Jersey Local Police Department, 3:23-cv-

21260-MAS-JBD (D.N.J. Oct. 17, 2023); Jones v. Philadelphia Police Department, 2:23-cv-04186-MAK

(E.D. Pa. Oct. 25, 2023); Jones v. Greene County Sheriff’s Department, 1:23-cv-01305-GTS-DJS

(N.D.N.Y. Oct. 25, 2023); Jones v. N.Y.P.D., 1:23-cv-09515-UA (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 25, 2023); Jones v. F M

Dill Farms, 1:23-cv-02928-GLR (D. Md. Oct. 26, 2023) (“Complaint- The Police colored Brown Black

Americans who have filled every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every week of

every month of every year of every decade of my life with murderous threats, disease contagion, and

isolation from all but their race begin their travels here in groups of eighty each from Dill Farms in

Maryland every day.”); Jones v. N.Y.P.D., 1:23-cv-08101-PKC-CLP (E.D.N.Y. Oct. 26, 2023); Jones v.

RI State Police, 1:23-cv-00446-MSM-PAS (D.R.I. Oct. 27, 2023); Jones v. New Haven CT, P.D., 3:23-

cv-01415-VDO (D. Conn. Oct. 27, 2023); Jones v. PA State Police Dept. Troop B, 2:23-cv-01868-CB-

CRE (W.D. Pa. Oct. 30, 2023); Jones v. Orange Texas Police Department, 6:23-cv-00605-JCB-KNM

(E.D. Tex. Dec. 4, 2023); Jones v. Mississippi Highway Patrol, 3:23-cv-03122-DPJ-FKB (S.D. Miss.

Dec. 4, 2023); Jones v. Tampa Bay Police, 2:23-cv-01127-JLB-KCD (M.D. Fla. Dec. 4, 2023); Jones v.

Miami Police, 1:23-cv-24583-BB (S.D. Fla. Dec. 4, 2023); Jones v. State Police Department, 1:23-cv-

03310-MJM (D. Md. Dec. 4, 2023); Jones v. Delaware State Police, 1:23-cv-01379-RGA (D. Del. Dec.

4, 2023); Jones v. Arkansas State Police, 4:23-cv-01144-JM (E.D. Ark. Dec. 4, 2023); Jones v. State

Police Department, 2:23-cv-00017-TSK-MJA (N.D. W. Va. Dec. 4, 2023); Jones v. South Carolina State

Police, 4:23-cv-06265-RBH-KDW (D.S.C. Dec. 5, 2023); Jones v. Florida State Police, 4:23-cv-00519-

RH-MJF (N.D. Fla. Dec. 5, 2023); Jones v. North Carolina State Police, 7:23-cv-01659-BO-RJ

(E.D.N.C. Dec. 5, 2023); Jones v. Ohio State Patrol, 1:23-cv-00794-MWM-KLL (S.D. Ohio Dec. 5,

2023); Jones v. Maryland State Police, 1:23-cv-03311-JRR (D. Md. Dec. 5, 2023); Jones v. Andalusia

Police, 1:23-cv-00459-KD-B (S.D. Ala. Dec. 5, 2023); Jones v. Perryville Police, 5:23-cv-00332-KKC

(E.D. Ky. Dec. 5, 2023).

The four-page single-spaced factual narrative in Mr. Jones’s complaint is disjointed

and, at times, incoherent. He alleges that he has been ‘murdered’ multiple times

beginning in 1986, having been removed from his mother’s body after her murder.

He also alleges that he has been forced into prostitution since he was two years old

and forced to drink motor oil and bleach. During an unspecified time period, Mr.

Jones alleges that he was in the care of crack addicts who brought him to New

Hampshire, where he was raped and assaulted by ‘state and local police’ in Loudon,

New Hampshire, as well as Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Jones v. New Hampshire State Police, Troop E, 1:23-cv-00053-LM (D.N.H. April 10, 2023). The

Court’s limited review of plaintiffs filings removes any doubt that he is a mentally-ill serial

litigant.

As such, the Court finds that this matter is subject to dismissal for failure to state a claim

and as frivolous.

Accordingly,

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiffs motion to proceed in forma pauperis [ECF

No. 2] is GRANTED.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that this action is DISMISSED for failure to state a claim

and frivolous pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B).

An Order of Dismissal will accompany this Memorandum and Order.

Dated this 13" day of December, 2023.

HENRY EDWARD AUTREY

UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE