Sheriff Arpaio offering $5K reward for damaged campaign signs

I think more than a few grifters ears poked up when they heard this news, a $700 fine for destroying the signs, but $5000 for reporting it to Sheriff Joe. That's $4300 profit if one doesn't mind some possible jail time or probation.

PHOENIX -- Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is opening up his wallet to anyone who can help him find the people responsible for ruining his campaign signs.

Sheriff Arpaio has announced that he’s offering a $5,000 reward for anyone who provides information that leads to an arrest and conviction for damaging his signs.

“My signs are being destroyed by these criminals causing us to lose a lot of hard earned money. Damaging political signs is a crime and I want these perpetrators prosecuted,” said Arpaio.

Chad Willems, who is managing Arpaio’s reelection campaign, said signs have been stolen, cut up, painted over with profanities, and burned beyond recognition. More than 200 signs have already been replaced at a cost of approximately $3,500.

“The campaign office gets calls every day reporting the damage done to the Sheriff’s signs throughout the county,” Willems stated.

Anyone with any information is being asked to first call local law enforcement and then the Arpaio campaign headquarters at 602-235-9320.

Defacing a political sign is a class two misdemeanor that carries a penalty of up to four months in jail, a $700 fine, and two years probation.
http://www.azfamily.com/news/Sheriff-Arpaio-offering-5K-reward-for-damaged-campaign-signs-164669326.html

Sheriff Joe Arpaio's campaign signs burned and knocked down across Phoenix

PHOENIX -- Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's re-election campaign is feeling the heat, literally.
Someone torched one of his campaign signs.

“Sadly our political opponents out there that don't agree with Sheriff Joe's policies are resorting to vandalism,” said Arpaio’s campaign manager, Chad Willems.

Across the Valley 3TV found signs knocked over and ripped out of the ground.

This week Willem’s got a surprise visit from Tempe police officers.

“They brought six signs that a gentleman found behind his house that were just dumped there,” said Willems.

Someone also got creative with another sign and spray painted blue profanity all over it

“What we do know is it's not our supporters. So we don't know who is exactly out there doing it, but it's not our people,” said Willems.

Stacy Pearson is the spokesperson for Paul Penzone’s campaign.

Penzone is one of Arpaio’s political opponents.

Pearson said their camp is not behind the vandalism.

“Penzone's campaign has 400 volunteers committed to restoring integrity to the office. Destroying signs isn't a part of the game plan, we strongly discourage it,” said Pearson.

According to Pearson, Penzone's signs are disappearing too.

However, Pearson isn't surprised Arpaio's signs are being vandalized.

“I think when it comes to Arpaio it's a symptom of people being very frustrated with his administration,” said Pearson.

Willems said Arpaio’s signs aren't cheap, with each one costing $17.00.

According to Phoenix police, defacing a political sign falls under a class 3 misdemeanor and someone can be charged with a felony depending on the circumstances and the amount of the damage.

Testimony of fear, anger at racial-profiling trial

Two citizens who believe Maricopa County Sheriff's deputies pulled them over because they are Hispanic gave the most emotional testimony so far in the 2-day-old trial involving allegations that Sheriff Joe Arpaio's agency engages in racial profiling.

Daniel Magos, 67, and Velia Meraz were stopped more than 18 months apart by sheriff's deputies, and neither have been pulled over since then. But both believe they remain targets of the Sheriff's Office because of their race

Attorneys for the Sheriff's Office have asked the same question of all the alleged profiling victims as they end their testimony: Have sheriff's deputies pulled you over since the traffic stop that led to the profiling allegation? The answer is universally "no," but Meraz, who was a passenger in an SUV that was pulled over in March 2008, said her fear remains.

Dana: 2008 video contradicts Arpaio testimony

"Sheriff Joe Arpaio keeps saying it on national TV that he's going to continue what he's doing and that means these sweeps, these stops," Meraz told the court. "I believe it could happen again."
The case alleges that the Sheriff's immigration-enforcement priorities have resulted in discrimination against Latinos residents. Over the past six years, Arpaio has made immigration enforcement his trademark, but those efforts have been also met by accusations -- by citizens, activists and the U.S. Justice Department -- that his agency has engaged in racial profiling and discrimination.

Deputy Michael Kikes, the sheriff's deputy who pulled over the SUV Meraz was riding in with her brother, Manuel Nieto, took the witness stand earlier Wednesday. Attorneys for the plaintiffs pointed out contradictions between deposition testimony that Kikes gave earlier and his statements in court on Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Murray Snow picked up on several of those apparent contradictions, questioning Kikes about his involvement with the Sheriff's saturation patrols and the instructions he might have been given before the operations began.

Kikes initially told the court that he recalled an instruction sheet for the March 2008 operation in the north Valley that included a specific warning against racial profiling.

"In bold letters, I remember," said Kikes, who was serving as a motorcycle officer during the operation.

Snow later had Kikes look at the instruction sheet, on which the deputy could find no such admonition. Kikes also claimed he was in a briefing before the operation began, but his name was not reflected on an attendance sheet that other deputies signed.

The contradictions in Kikes' testimony became more significant as Meraz and Nieto gave accounts of their stop and detention. Their recollections directly conflicted with Kikes' statements. Kikes claimed he never used force with Nieto after stopping the siblings' SUV at the request of another deputy. Kikes also said he never drew his weapon during the stop, but Meraz and Nieto testified that some deputies had their guns drawn.

Nieto and Meraz were stopped after they encountered a sheriff's deputy who had two men detained at a gas station in the north Valley during one of Arpaio's saturation patrols. The siblings claim they were about to enter the gas station when a sheriff's deputy ordered them to leave and threatened them with arrest for disorderly conduct. On their way out of the gas station, Meraz admitted to telling the detained men not to sign anything they did not understand.

Nieto admitted he initially refused to pull over when Kikes pulled behind his SUV, but said he was afraid of the sheriff's deputy and was on the phone with 911 operators expressing his concerns.
Nieto and Meraz were eventually released without receiving a citation.

Tim Casey, an attorney for the Sheriff's Office, asked Nieto if he had ever been pulled over again by Arpaio's deputies after that March 2008 stop.

"I have not," Nieto said. "But I do have fear."

Similar testimony emerged from a maintenance worker who was pulled over in south Phoenix in December 2009. He had been stopped because his work trailer obscured the license plate, according to the deputy who stopped Magos and his wife in a Ford pickup loaded up with landscaping equipment.

Magos, who has been a U.S. citizen for more than 45 years, was not cited for any violations. He believes the sheriff's deputy pulled his truck over for an entirely different reason.

"It made me feel angry ... worthless ... defenseless," Magos said, holding back tears on the witness stand as he described the stop. "After (the deputy's) apology (for the stop) he told me that stop had nothing to do with racial profiling. I told him that was exactly what it was."

Magos said he tried to report the incident to the Sheriff's Office, but never received a return call after family members left several messages. He said the complaint he filed with the American Civil Liberties Union was the first time anyone responded to his concerns. Magos said he has since spoken with investigators from the U.S. Department of Justice, which earlier this year filed a separate civil-rights lawsuit against the Sheriff's Office.

With no jury in the case, Snow will decide whether the Sheriff's Office participated in widespread discrimination against Latino residents, as the plaintiffs claim.

The lawsuit does not seek monetary damages. Instead, the plaintiffs want the kind of injunctive relief that the Sheriff's Office has resisted in the past -- a declaration that spells out what deputies may or may not do when stopping potential suspects, and a court-appointed monitor to make sure the agency lives by those rules.

The trial is scheduled to end on Aug. 2.

MCSO, actor Steven Seagal sued over 2011 arrest

When a tank knocked down his block wall with a boom, waking him from a sound sleep, Jesus Llovera scrambled out of bed and grabbed his jeans and a phone to dial 911.

He made it to the hallway just as his bedroom windows shattered. At his door, members of a Maricopa County Sheriff's Office SWAT team in full riot gear told him to get on the floor.

He was handcuffed and taken outside, where action-movie actor Steven Seagal waited, clad in camouflage and sunglasses and hoisting a rifle.

"I looked up and saw his face," Llovera said. "It was very strange."

The SWAT team was at Llovera's Laveen home the morning of March 10, 2011, to search it.

Deputies suspected that Llovera, who had pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor violation of being present at a cockfight, still had roosters and chickens on his property, a violation of his probation. They also suspected he was raising them to fight, a Class 5 felony.

But the Sheriff's Office was also participating in the creation of a reality show, "Steven Seagal: Lawman," a cable show that followed Seagal's exploits as a deputized officer. Four cameras from the production company filmed the warrant execution and arrest. Arpaio's office had alerted the media. Reporters and television cameras lined the southwest Phoenix neighborhood's street.

This week, Llovera struck back. Llovera, 43, filed a civil lawsuit Tuesday against the Sheriff's Office and Seagal, claiming his arrest was orchestrated to make for good television. He seeks unspecified monetary damages to be determined by a jury.

The suit, which also names the county Board of Supervisors, says it fit a pattern of Arpaio "arresting and prosecuting individuals without probable cause solely for the selfish and improper purposes of achieving personal and political gain through publicity."

The Sheriff's Office insists in court documents that the use of a tank, a bomb robot and 40 deputies was part of its normal course of duties.

"The search warrant was going to occur with or without Seagal," sheriff's Deputy Chief Dave Trombi said before the lawsuit was filed. "The search warrant was not based at all on the needs of the production company."

After the raid, Llovera was criminally charged with raising animals for cockfighting and possession of dangerous drugs used on the animals. At the time, he was not supposed to have the animals in his possession because he was on probation for a cockfighting-related offense.

Robert Campos, Llovera's attorney, has asked the court in the criminal case to throw out evidence discovered at Llovera's home, arguing that the warrant was not served property.

Campos said his client was not involved with cockfighting, as authorities suspect. But, even if he were, the raid "was still overkill, and that's the whole point."

The Arizona-filmed episode of "Steven Seagal: Lawman" was to premiere on the A&E Network on Jan. 4, but the season was pulled from the schedule and the channel's website.

At the time of his arrest, Llovera said, Seagal walked him off his property to a van but did not speak to him. Seagal went off to do media interviews. Show producers asked Llovera to sign a release allowing them to use footage of his arrest. Llovera said deputies removed his handcuffs twice as producers asked him to sign. He refused.

"They said, 'It will be good for you, so everyone can see your animals,' " Llovera said. "I said I didn't want to."

Deputies found more than 100 roosters on the property. Court records say some had been physically altered in ways suggesting the birds had been bred for cockfighting. Since such birds are too aggressive to be rehabilitated, deputies said, they were euthanized.

Deputies also found medicines, charging Llovera with possession of dangerous drugs, and accessories, like sparring balls.

Deputies interviewed Llovera for 90 minutes, according to a prosecution filing in court.

"During that time, defendant equivocated between saying that the roosters were being raised solely for show purposes and then stating that he was raising the roosters so that they could be sold to people who would use them for cockfighting," it said.

Llovera, during a recent tour of his home, told a reporter that he bred the birds to show their colorful plumage. But he did not know when the next rooster show was, or anything about competitions for rooster beauty or breeding.

He showed a copy of Gamecock magazine, saying he's just like dealers who sell in that publication. The Humane Society calls the magazine a thinly disguised journal for cockfighting fans.

Llovera walked with a reporter through three rows of cages in his backyard for the 40 birds he owns.

To show his birds weren't meant for fighting, Llovera put his hand into a cage. The rooster backed up. Had they been fighters, he said, they would be used to handling and could be easily approached.

He conceded he trimmed some birds' wattles and combs, but only so the birds could place their heads through the bars of their cages to eat. He said a room authorities thought was a training ring is where he practices Santeria, a religion that includes animal sacrifice.

Llovera said he grew up a fan of cockfighting, watching battles in his native Cuba. He attended cockfights in Arizona when they were legal. Voters banned the practice in 1998.

"Those are traditions that you bring with you," Llovera said, "and it was in Arizona. It was a tradition that was in Arizona."

Llovera was one of 69 people arrested at a cockfight in Tonopah in May 2010. He pleaded guilty to being present at a fight and was given probation.

Phoenix police went to Llovera's home in February 2011 to investigate a man's claim that Llovera had kidnapped him and held him hostage for four days. Llovera told his own story of being kidnapped and having his pinky chopped off in the desert.

Confronted with differing stories, police didn't pursue the kidnapping case. But they did send the information about the roosters on Llovera's property to the Sheriff's Office.

That resulted in the search warrant that led deputies, with Seagal in tow, to storm Llovera's home. Trombi said the allegations against Llovera justified the sheriff's use of force.

"When SWAT is requested, it's based on previous history surrounding that suspect and that residence. Phoenix police did it with just as many if not more SWAT personnel as we did," Trombi said. "We had a legitimate law-enforcement reason to be there, we had a legitimate document, a search warrant, signed by that judge to be at that property. And a year later, we're still in the litigation phase. We're not willing to back down from the charges the county attorney filed based on our investigation."

Llovera said he's frustrated thinking how much his life was upended by the bust. "At the end of it, I realized it was a show," Llovera said. "What they showed up for was to make a show, and they made one."

http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2012/03/01/20120301mcso-seagal-sued-arrest.html

County to Shell Out $1 Million to Family of Man Who Died While in MCSO Custody

You can tack another $1 million on to the more than $50 million in legal settlements Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has cost county taxpayers -- the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is expected to approve a settlement in a lawsuit filed by a man who died while in the sheriff's custody.

The family of Juan Farias Mendoza initially sued the county for $6 million.

Mendoza found himself in the custody of the MCSO following a 2007 arrest for driving under the influence. While in custody, Mendoza had several altercations with Arpaio's detention officers, which the lawsuit claims led to his death.

According to the notice of claim, Detention officers used pepper spray, Tasers, physical force, and a spit mask on Mendoza while he was in custody. A county medical examiner later found that the bruises on Mendoza's body showed signs of trauma.

The sheriff's office didn't immediately respond to our request for comment, but Arpaio tells the Arizona Republic that he doesn't recall the details of Mendoza's death.

"It was settled due to the nature of doing business," Arpaio tells the paper. "That wasn't up to us, that was the county that decided to settle it. We have nothing to do with us. We never like to lose anybody in jail, but we have ... 300,000 (inmates) come through our jails since I've been sheriff. Sometimes you have people that pass away."

Luis Guerra, the attorney representing Mendoza's family didn't return New Times' multiple phone calls.

See Mendoza's family's notice of claim here.

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2011/11/county_to_shell_out_1_million.php

Bail cut for Arpaio staffers tied to drug ring

Two of three Maricopa County sheriff's employees implicated in a multinational heroin smuggling ring have been released from custody after posting bail, and the highest-ranking member of the trio had his bail reduced to $25,000 this week after a judge determined the original $1 million cash bail was excessive.

The developments in the case, which accused the sheriff's employees of conspiring to smuggle heroin and launder money, came as prosecutors have offered plea deals to all 19 defendants and dismissed charges against one in the interest of justice.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said the reduced bond amounts and dismissed charges do not reflect on the quality of the investigation his deputies performed. But Arpaio said he was concerned about the release of some suspects who have ties to other countries.

Evidence that investigators presented to the grand jury after the months-long probe, which included the use of court-ordered wire taps, indicated that former Deputy Alfredo Navarrette and former sheriff's detention officer Marcella Hernandez discussed moving to a ranch in Mexico before their arrests.

Investigators said the ranch is owned by the smuggling ring's alleged leader, Francisco Arce-Torres, who is accused of having ties to the Sinaloan cartel and whom detectives believe fathered a child Hernandez gave birth to shortly after her arrest.

"I'm a little concerned about my people being released on $25,000 bond when intelligence shows they have this farm in (Mexico) and they're thinking about moving there," Arpaio said.

The efforts of attorneys to reduce bail amounts, get charges dismissed and have cases sent back to a grand jury are part of any vigorous defense. But the involvement of three members of the law-enforcement community being investigated by their own agency makes the case distinct.

The group mostly moved heroin, according to investigators, and officials suspect each of the arrested sheriff's employees played a crucial role in moving the drugs and hiding illicit profits. Authorities say the ring moved about $56,000 worth of heroin a week through the Valley.

Arce-Torres arranged for the heroin to be brought into the Valley after his brothers produced the drug on the family's ranch in Mexico, according to court documents.

Hernandez's brother, who was also among those arrested, is suspected of operating one of several stash houses, and investigators believe Hernandez coordinated the pickup and delivery of heroin from the drug houses.

Navarrette and Sylvia Najera, the other arrested detention officer, helped set up a shell corporation called West Utilities Group Inc., which was used earlier this year to launder nearly $50,000 in drug proceeds, according to court documents.

Najera was released after posting $12,000 bail this summer.

Hernandez's bond was reduced from $2 million to $25,000 and she was released shortly after 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.

But it was Navarrette who was depicted as among the most egregious suspects to emerge in the investigation, in part because of his role in the sheriff's human-smuggling unit and the presence of two undocumented immigrants in Navarrette's Phoenix home when deputies raided it in May.

Navarrette's attorney painted a different picture in documents he filed requesting reduced bond for his client.
The undocumented immigrants in Navarrette's house were simply renting space from the divorced deputy, who needed the extra income to keep his home, according to his attorney.

And the lifestyle Navarrette lived before his arrest does not fit with that of a money-laundering smuggler, Navarrette's attorney, Herman Alacantar, told the court.

"Mr. Navarrette was not once during this investigation spending large amounts of money, driving of possessing fancy or expensive cars or otherwise living an expensive or extravagant lifestyle," Alcantar wrote. "On the contrary, Mr. Navarrette's utilities were regularly cut off for nonpayment; he was always behind on all his bills and often had to borrow money from other deputies and friends to make ends meet."

The filings included numerous letters from Navarrette's family and friends, who cited his longstanding ties to the Valley, where he was born and raised, his service in the military and work in the Sheriff's Office.

Prosecutors declined to comment on the case, but their filings point to some of the same factors - particularly Navarrette's work in law enforcement while allegedly involved in a criminal enterprise - as reason enough for the bond to remain at $1 million.

The filings also cited months of surveillance and intercepted phone calls that allegedly support prosecutors' claims that Navarrette was intimately involved in the smuggling ring.

"While the defendant has many letters in support of him, it is apparent that those who continue to support him do not grasp the depth of his behavior and actions," prosecutor Rebekah Browder wrote. "If the defendant was able to commit these crimes while wearing a badge, it can only be assumed that if he is released from jail, he will have free reign to break the laws again."

But Superior Court Judge Janet Barton ruled Tuesday that Navarrette's $1 million bond was "clearly excessive."

The decision left Arpaio steamed.

"You have a deputy sheriff who has worked on our human smuggling and given intelligence out, putting my deputies in danger, tipping them (smugglers) off and now this guy's getting back on the street with $25,000?" Arpaio asked. "I don't understand this, I really don't."

The sheriff's employees and other defendants are due back in court in early December.

Navarette remained in custody as of Wednesday.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/10/12/20111012arpaio-staffers-bond-reduced1012.html

Joe Arpaio Loses Again: Maricopa County Settles for $200K in Mora Racial-Profiling Case

Julio and Julian Mora, who today won big against Sheriff Joe

As Sheriff Joe Arpaio plots to humiliate Arizona by deploying a chain gang of illegal immigrants to clean up around Chase Field, where the Major League Baseball All-Star Game is scheduled to take place July 12, there's ample evidence Arpaio should be in stripes right along with them, cleaning the sidewalks of cigarette butts and soda cans.

Not only is Arpaio the subject of a federal grand jury probe looking into abuse of power allegations against his office, he's also guilty of racial profiling by proxy. And for all of you nativists out there, racial profiling is illegal, no matter how much you may cotton to the idea.

See, the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona has just announced that it's reached a settlement in the federal lawsuit Mora v. Arpaio, one of the most egregious cases of ethnic and racial profiling to come out of Arpaio's campaign of Hispanic-hunting sweeps and anti-immigrant raids on local businesses.

Arpaio's lawyer Tim Casey today threw in the towel, essentially agreeing to a $200,000 payout to Julian and Julio Mora, the father and son zip-tied and held for three hours during a 2009 MCSO raid of the Phoenix landscaping firm Handyman Maintenance Inc., where the elder Mora worked.

Joe's boys-in-beige were after illegal immigrants that day, but Julian Mora is a legal permanent resident. His son Julio is an American citizen.

But all that mattered to Arpaio's goons was the Moras' skin color. Because they were brown, sheriff's deputies pulled over their truck as the elder Mora drove to work. They were zip-tied and laughed at when they asked to use the facilities.

Mora senior, who suffers from diabetes, was finally allowed to make water behind a parked vehicle. The junior Mora was allowed to go to the bathroom, but deputies refused to remove his zip-tie, and mocked him as he struggled to relieve himself.

The Moras had done nothing wrong, yet they were treated like criminals.

So they sued Arpaio and the other idgits involved, like the bigoted Barney Fife, MCSO Lt. Joe Sousa, the brain surgeon in charge of the sheriff's human smuggling unit, best known for telling elected officials critical of his jefe to "shut up" at a deputies' press conference in 2009.

Oh, if only the $200K could come from the pocket of an aggro idiot like Sousa. But, alas, as with all of the settlements and judgments that result from the misdeeds of Arpaio and his dull-witted minions, it's the county that has to pick up the tab for this Keystone-Koppery.

Interestingly, one reason the defense in this suit flopped on its face is that the MCSO's moronic administrators could not determine which MCSO goons in particular pinched the Moras. Flip to the word "incompetence" in Webster's Dictionary, and I can almost guarantee there's an illo of an MCSO badge.

In April, District Court Judge David Campbell ruled that the Moras' Fourth Amendment right to be free of unreasonable search and seizure had been violated.

"Julian had committed no traffic violation, and neither plaintiff was ever charged with a crime," Campbell wrote at the time.

"In short," he added, "the undisputed evidence shows that when the John Doe Deputies stopped plaintiffs, they had no suspicion, reasonable or otherwise, that plaintiffs were in violation of the traffic laws or engaged in criminal activity."

Campbell's April ruling practically guaranteed Arpaio's capitulation. On the Fourth Amendment claim, the defendants already knew they were going to lose.

Annie Lai, the ACLU's lead attorney on the case, warned the county that it will be on the hook for Arpaio's continued unconstitutional shenanigans.

"Sheriff Arpaio's deputies are not free to ignore the Constitution when they are enforcing immigration laws," Lai said in a statement released by the ACLU. "County officials should take heed that the Moras and hundreds of other Latino residents who have been detained in the raids without any evidence of wrongdoing have recourse in the courts."

Lai just left the ACLU this week, on her way to a teaching gig at Yale University. I interviewed her before she left, and she will be the subject of a future blog post.

Congrats to her, the Moras and all the lawyers at the ACLU and elsewhere who helped win this one. Occasionally, there's a little justice here in Sand Land, though I won't be satisfied till I see Arpaio suited up in stripes, working the side of the road, hopefully with all of his henchmen right beside him.

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/2011/07/joe_arpaio_loses_again_maricop.php

Reports: Sheriff Joe Arpaio knew of corruption, problems

Time and again, in public statements and in interviews, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has denied knowledge of the corruption and mismanagement within his headquarters.

But information in thousands of pages of recently released public records refutes some of Arpaio's claims and, in some instances, places him in the middle of key controversial events.

Certain trusted Arpaio advisers told investigators they notified Arpaio over the past several years about financial problems, potential issues with the way the agency was running its anti-corruption investigations, and his chief deputy's regular abuse of subordinates. For example:

- One detective told investigators that Arpaio participated in drafting a search warrant for a failed corruption investigation.

- The sheriff's former chief financial officer said she warned Arpaio of overtime excesses and other financial problems, as well as former Chief Deputy David Hendershott's "demoralizing" mistreatment of subordinates.

- Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk recounted to state investigators Arpaio's response in September 2009 when she asked why the Sheriff's Office arrested Maricopa County Supervisor Don Stapley after she had told them the case was not ready to charge. "Arpaio blows up: I had PC (probable cause) to arrest, no one tells me who I can/cannot arrest," Polk said.

The statements by witnesses came to light during state investigations into the Sheriff's Office and during a separate administrative investigation into three of Arpaio's top commanders by Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu. Babeu's investigation, prompted by the so-called "Munnell memo," a letter from Deputy Chief Frank Munnell that contained many allegations, ended the careers of Hendershott and former Deputy Chief Larry Black. The report said they had abused their positions, violated county policies and were untruthful, forcing their resignations in the face of imminent termination.

Capt. Joel Fox remains on paid administrative leave as investigators re-examine allegations about his conduct.

Public records examined by The Arizona Republic are also being reviewed by the U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI. That information will play heavily in the federal abuse-of-power investigations of Arpaio, former County Attorney Andrew Thomas and others.

Key questions, according to legal experts, will be: What did Arpaio know about misconduct within his agency? When did he know it? And was any of his agency's conduct criminal?

"He has a First Amendment right to claim willful ignorance about what was going on - and that has served him well in the past," said Valley criminal-defense attorney Mike Black, adding that Arpaio can't claim he "didn't know what was going on, but then have evidence pointing to the fact that he did. But they (federal prosecutors) have to show that he approved these things and conspired with them (sheriff's staff)."

Arpaio acknowledged in a lengthy interview Friday that his agency has had problems. But for the most part, he maintains, he was in the dark.

"You can always look in the past and say, 'I saw warning signs,' " he said. "This is just another situation that has occurred. I'm not happy with it. I back my people up pretty good. I'm tough on criminals. Maybe I should have been tougher on my staff."

But Arpaio's own command staff have stated that Arpaio was apprised of his agency's operations.

Deputy Chief Paul Chagolla, a Hendershott adherent and former Arpaio spokesman, told Babeu's investigators he did not agree with assertions that Hendershott tried to keep Arpaio out of the loop.

"From my perspective, conversations between the sheriff and chief deputy occur, occurred on a regular basis and frequently occurred after everybody left the building," Chagolla said.

Arpaio and certain other witnesses, however, have said Hendershott hid details from the sheriff on some of the agency's failed investigations into judges and county officials.

But from its inception in early 2007, the Maricopa County Anti-Corruption Enforcement unit (MACE) that conducted those probes was lauded by Arpaio.

As the Sheriff's Office launched investigations into elected officials - including former Attorney General Terry Goddard and county Supervisor Don Stapley - Arpaio was the face of the agency, engaging in heated public debates with elected officials who accused the Sheriff's Office of conducting political witch hunts.

"I want to be clear," Arpaio stated in an October 2007 news release about his investigation into Goddard. "This Sheriff will not be intimidated by a potential suspect in this office's ongoing investigation of wrongdoing."

The investigation never led to charges.

Throughout the next three years, Arpaio would make many more statements about the propriety of his political-corruption investigations and the lack of fortitude of his targets. But Arpaio's denials about knowing the details of the cases fit neatly with the theory that Hendershott kept important pieces of information from the sheriff.

A deputy chief's statements to Pinal County investigators cast some doubt on Arpaio's claims he was ignorant of MACE case details. Arpaio was present as detectives discussed at least one search warrant served during the Stapley investigation, Deputy Chief Bill Knight told investigators.

Knight also told them he questioned Hendershott's motivation for serving the search warrant in January 2009 on Conley Wolfswinkel, a Stapley business associate. Knight said he thought the search warrant had probable cause, but he did not want to include too many details in the warrant to prevent potential suspects from learning too much about the case.

But Arpaio saw the situation differently, Knight said.

" 'No, those things need to be in there,' " Knight recalled Arpaio telling him. "I probably overstepped my bounds a little bit here, but I said, 'Are we writing a press release or are we writing a search warrant? I just need to be clear on what we're trying to produce here.' And he just looked at me and said, 'Get the information in there,' and then got up and walked out."

On Friday, Arpaio initially denied Knight's version of events and then admitted talking to Knight about the case because of Wolfswinkel's high-profile past in Valley real-estate dealings.

"I don't direct, I don't order people, especially a deputy chief, to put something in a search warrant," Arpaio said. "I didn't look at the search warrant. I may have talked about Wolfswinkel because I'm interested in him."

Knight's exchange with Arpaio is found in the first part of Babeu's 1,022-page report and more than 4,000 pages of interview transcripts where a deputy puts the sheriff in a position to have direct knowledge of and influence on the MACE operations.

However, more than 15,000 pages of interview transcripts and supporting documents have yet to be released.

Loretta Barkell worked as Arpaio's chief financial officer for about a decade, overseeing personnel and a budget of about $270 million. She retired in March.

Although Hendershott attempted over the years to control the information that Arpaio received, Barkell has stated she went around Hendershott and repeatedly informed Arpaio about budget issues, including overtime excesses, the inappropriate use of detention-fund money and costs associated with other programs.

"I would go to Arpaio if there were situations with overtime or other stuff where he needed to pay attention, and he just ignored me," Barkell told The Republic last week.

In November 2007, the Sheriff's Office was using so much overtime that the agency was on track to exceed its overtime budget by $14.5 million. Barkell told Babeu's investigators that she informed Arpaio about the problem, but the overtime excesses continued. Arpaio only acted on the problem after it was written about in the newspaper, she said.

"It's very typical of all of them in the office to be informed of the problem and not take action until it becomes a crisis," Barkell said in an interview Friday.

Barkell also said she repeatedly warned Arpaio that the agency could not use restricted jail funds to pay for other functions, such as patrol, human-smuggling enforcement and public-corruption investigations. A county investigation into the use of the jail funds found the Sheriff's Office misspent $99.5 million over eight years.

After Babeu's report was released and Hendershott was fired, an Arpaio representative said only a few staff members shared their concerns about Hendershott with Arpaio, and they came forward just before Munnell's letter became public.

But Babeu's investigators spoke with a former sheriff's deputy who wrote a memo to Arpaio in the 1990s that raised some of the same concerns about Hendershott.

Reached by phone, former sheriff's Lt. Roy Reyer recalled that Arpaio was dismissive of his concerns about Hendershott and instead questioned Reyer as to why he raised the issues with former Chief Deputy Jadel Roe.

"He looked me square in the eyes with my memo in the hand and said, 'Reyer, you're a damn liar,' and throws it on the ground," Reyer said last week. "I couldn't stay there anymore. I was a 'dime dropper' in his eyes."

Reyer retired and pleaded guilty to solicitation to commit computer tampering in 2001. Arpaio said that conviction raised questions about Reyer's credibility, and that Reyer was disgruntled with changes in the Sheriff's Office after Arpaio began his first term.

"I vaguely remember it," Arpaio said of Reyer's complaints about Hendershott. "Jadel Roe, I'm sure, took care of it."

After Roe retired and Arpaio appointed Hendershott chief deputy, Arpaio took a similar approach when employees expressed concerns about Hendershott.

"I advised him to knock it off and apologize, and he did," Arpaio said.

Other longtime employees like Barkell, however, believe Arpaio was blindly loyal to Hendershott - and, toward the end of Hendershott's time with the Sheriff's Office, even scared of him. Barkell told Babeu's investigators that she had told Arpaio of her concerns about Hendershott several times over the past 10 years.

"It would always be the same conversation," she said.

She remembered describing Hendershott to Arpaio: "He's very hostile. He's very mean. He's very nasty. He degrades people. He intimidates people. He bullies people. He can't do this, Sheriff. As your HR person, I'm telling you, he can't do this."

In the end, Arpaio's advisers may share some of the blame with Arpaio for not discerning a pattern of conduct amid the many warning signs.

"There are little things here, little things there. But people want to believe everything's OK and going well," Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan said, comparing it to the nation's crumbling housing market several years ago. The eventual economic collapse was the wake-up call.

"When the Munnell memo hits, that's our version of the economy tanking."

http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2011/05/22/20110522arpaio-corruption-mismanagement.html

Eyewitness: Shooting Victim Did Not Point Gun At MCSO Deputy

MESA, Ariz. -- An eyewitness to a deadly shooting involving a Maricopa County Sheriff's deputy disputes the sheriff's account of how the shooting happened on Crescent Avenue in Mesa on Friday night.

Miguel Hernandez said he watched a deputy shoot Felipe Castellanos, his neighbor, from his front window.

"The sheriff's deputies just came up running up to him and then they told him to turn off the engine. And he just put it in park, like he was going in reverse. He put it in park . . . and then they he shot him three times," said Hernandez.

On Monday, Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Castellanos had threatened deputies with an AK-47 before he was shot two times.

Arpaio said Castellanos died from his gunshot wounds Monday morning.

"When a deputy approached, he was acting strange; swearing at our deputy, pointed a rifle at our deputy, who fired the two shots, one hitting the subject in the head," said Arpaio.

"I never saw that. I was right here and it happened right there. I, I never saw him raise his gun or anything," said Hernandez.

Deputies say they were called to Castellano's Crescent Avenue home for a domestic dispute around 10:30 p.m.

A spokesman said Castellanos fired gun shots, possible into the air and left his home.

They said Castellanos returned to his home a short time later and grabbed an AK-47 and ammunition from his home.

He encountered deputies as he was trying to back out of his driveway.

"I praise my deputy for taking proper professional action," Arpaio said. "When you have a person like this, that has all the ammunition, the gun, what was he going to do if we did not stop him?"

Arpaio said Castellanos is a convicted felon and an illegal immigrant.

Hernandez described Castellanos as a friendly neighbor.

He said Castellanos did not seem prone to violence and does not think he was trying to hurt deputies.

"They should do something else, not kill him," he said.

An MCSO spokesperson refused to identify the deputy involved in the shooting.

CBS 5 has requested records from the incident and will let you know what we find.

Third body pulled from Arizona canal

A third body has been found at a Gila Bend canal where a group of illegal immigrants fled from authorities during a vehicle stop last week, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said Thursday.

Authorities say deputies and fire personnel were in route to recover the body. Two bodies were recovered earlier Thursday.

Detectives believe that survivors did not disclose there may be a third body in the water to thwart investigators.

Three suspected illegal immigrants were rescued from the canal and arrested after a traffic stop near U.S. 80, and clothing descriptions helped identify the two males pulled earlier Thursday from the water, the Sheriff's Office said.

One of bodies is that of a 17-year-old boy who had been traveling with his father, who survived, Sheriff Joe Arpaio said. The other body is that of a male believed to be age 17-21.

Last week, deputies launched a robot into the 8-foot-deep canal. The water was murky and so full of debris that no bodies were visible.

Arpaio mentioned that this is the third case where a juvenile, or reported juvenile, has jumped into the same canal near Gillespie Dam.

"There is a trend occurring, and it has to stop," Arpaio said.

The first took place two weeks ago when a juvenile jumped into the deep water and was rescued by deputies.

"They are still taking chances, trying to evade our law enforcement," Arpaio said.

Arpaio said human smuggling is a complex and controversial problem, and he is not going to stop.

"I'm going to crack down even more starting in the new year," Arpaio said.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/12/23/20101223gila-bend-two-bodies-recovered-abrk.html

15 arrested during raid of Phoenix meat-packing business

Fifteen people were arrested after Maricopa County sheriff's deputies served a search warrant at a Phoenix meat-packing business with employees suspected of using stolen identities on Tuesday.

Between 30 and 40 employees at Prime Cut Meat & Seafood Company were detained by the deputies as the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office looked for 15 to 20 people suspected of identity theft. The Sheriff's Office had been investigating the case for several months, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said.

"We're going to continue business raids because you have to understand we have an unemployment problem," Arpaio said. "We took off 15 people with felonies off the street."

At least five of the people arrested had fake dates of birth and Social Security numbers. One of those arrested, a woman, was using the identification of a 90-year-old woman, Arpaio said.

"This is a serious problem, and I'm the bad guy," Sheriff Joe Arpaio said. "People forget (the people we arrested) have false identification, and that's a serious problem."

As the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office drove away from the business, the co-workers of the arrested people waved, cried and one of them shouted in Spanish, "This is an injustice!"

"They destroy families, separate them," said Erasto Martinez, 47, an employee.

Chad Poppen, the owner of Prime Cut Meat & Seafood Company said he was upset at how the system worked.

"I lost one-third of my working staff," said Poppen, who said he runs his employees' information through E-Verify. The system is "forcing you to hire based on the color of their skin."

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/10/12/20101012phoenix-sheriff-immigration-raid-abrk.html

Sheriff Joe Arpaio protest ends in arrest for man, officer pushing woman

A Phoenix neighborhood protest against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Thursday resulted in one person being arrested and another claiming Phoenix police roughed her up.

Abraham Hernandez, 21, was booked on disorderly conduct charges, said Sgt. Steve Martos, a Phoenix police spokesman.

Another woman, who refused to give her name, said a Phoenix police officer pushed her once into a squad car and another time to the floor. A woman who was with her gave the same account to The Republic.

Martos confirmed that an officer pushed an individual, who fell to the floor, after a group of people rushed the officers.

Arpaio was at Manzanita Elementary School, 8430 N. 39th Ave., to speak at a neighborhood group meeting, Martos said.

"Phoenix police officers were at Manzanita to ensure it was peaceful," Martos said. "(Hernandez) kept pushing the envelope, telling people to ignore commands."

After Arpaio had left, the Phoenix officers arrested Hernandez, who was told not to return to the property.

"(Hernandez) was not allowed in the meeting or on the property," Martos said. "He came back at the end where he was throwing something in the garbage."

That's when officers circled him and arrested him, Martos said.

A number of individuals ran back toward the officers as they were trying to get Hernandez into the police car, Martos said.

"They vast majority of the community understands that when an officer is taking law enforcement action, you can't rush or run toward him, or try to stop him from making an arrest," Martos said.

Opal Tometi, who was at the protest, said another woman started questioning the officers.

"Why are you taking him? On what grounds?" Tometi said. The woman leaned in when Hernandez was being placed in the car and that's when an officer pushed the woman into a squad car.

"She wasn't getting physical with the officer," Tometi said. A few moments later the same woman was pushed to the ground.

Martos defends the officers' right to keep the peace.

"You rush at officers, you may get pushed back or get pushed to the ground. Our hope is be able to protect everyone's right to voice their opinion."

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/09/17/20100917sheriff-joe-arpaio-protest-arrest-officer-rough-brk.html

Sheriff Joe Arpaio protest ends in arrest for man, officer pushing woman

A Phoenix neighborhood protest against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Thursday resulted in one person being arrested and another claiming Phoenix police roughed her up.

Abraham Hernandez, 21, was booked on disorderly conduct charges, said Sgt. Steve Martos, a Phoenix police spokesman.

Another woman, who refused to give her name, said a Phoenix police officer pushed her once into a squad car and another time to the floor. A woman who was with her gave the same account to The Republic.

Martos confirmed that an officer pushed an individual, who fell to the floor, after a group of people rushed the officers.

Arpaio was at Manzanita Elementary School, 8430 N. 39th Ave., to speak at a neighborhood group meeting, Martos said.

"Phoenix police officers were at Manzanita to ensure it was peaceful," Martos said. "(Hernandez) kept pushing the envelope, telling people to ignore commands."

After Arpaio had left, the Phoenix officers arrested Hernandez, who was told not to return to the property.

"(Hernandez) was not allowed in the meeting or on the property," Martos said. "He came back at the end where he was throwing something in the garbage."

That's when officers circled him and arrested him, Martos said.

A number of individuals ran back toward the officers as they were trying to get Hernandez into the police car, Martos said.

"They vast majority of the community understands that when an officer is taking law enforcement action, you can't rush or run toward him, or try to stop him from making an arrest," Martos said.

Opal Tometi, who was at the protest, said another woman started questioning the officers.

"Why are you taking him? On what grounds?" Tometi said. The woman leaned in when Hernandez was being placed in the car and that's when an officer pushed the woman into a squad car.

"She wasn't getting physical with the officer," Tometi said. A few moments later the same woman was pushed to the ground.

Martos defends the officers' right to keep the peace.

"You rush at officers, you may get pushed back or get pushed to the ground. Our hope is be able to protect everyone's right to voice their opinion."

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/09/17/20100917sheriff-joe-arpaio-pro\
test-arrest-officer-rough-brk.html

Joe Arpaio Protesters Score Nearly $500K in Settlements from Maricopa County

From left, Jason Odhner, Kristy Theilen, Monica Sandschafer, and Joel Nelson, after being released from the 4th Avenue Jail following their arrests for "clapping" at a public meeting in 2008

A group of seven activists either arrested or cited by the sheriff's office as a result of demonstrations at Maricopa County Board of Supervisors' meetings have settled their claims for wrongful arrest and malicious prosecution for a total of nearly $500,000.

All seven were suing the county separately, and had submitted notices of claim for hundreds of thousands of dollars each. In a day-long mediation this Tuesday, the parties agreed upon substantially lower figures.

Apparently, one individual was not happy with the settlements: Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Chief Deputy David Hendershott, who was present at the mediation, according to several sources.

These sources tell me that Hendershott threatened the mediator, former Superior Court Judge Christopher Skelly, with some sort of legal action.

Maricopa County spokeswoman Cari Gerchick declined to comment on the allegations involving Hendershott and Skelly, but she did provide the text of a letter she said was sent over by the sheriff's office to Skelly during the mediation,

"This is a litigation hold requesting that all notes, emails, correspondence and other documentation in the matter of_____be preserved in light of prospective and future litigation."

Sources describe Skelly as being visibly upset and offended by the encounter with Hendershott. They also described Skelly crumpling the letter in his hand in outrage.

Skelly declined comment on the matter. I put in a call to MCSO spokesman Brian Lee for a response, but have yet to receive a call back.

The move to settle the lawsuits was the county's call to make, not that of the sheriff's office.

"The cases were settled," said Gerchick, "to avoid a costly and protracted litigation battle, which would have exposed the county and the taxpayers to great financial risk."

Indeed, the arrests themselves were absurd overkill on the part of the MCSO. They involved, in one instance, the collaring of four women after a peaceful protest, where demonstrators donned cat and dog masks outside one Board of Supervisors meeting.

That demonstration had been planned in part by the group Maricopa Citizens for Safety and Accountability, which was trying to get placed on the board's agenda at the time to discuss Sheriff Joe's misplaced priorities. The protesters were irked that a county "Pet of the Month" could get on the agenda, but not their group.

In another particularly egregious incident, four members of the group ACORN were arrested by MCSO deputies at a Board of Supervisors meeting after they applauded a speaker. (Two of them, Monica Sandschafer and Kristy Theilen, had been arrested at the earlier demonstration as well.)

That's right, they were arrested, booked, and spent 10 or 12 hours in jail for clapping. Another rogue clapper, MCSA organizer Raquel Teran, was later cited.

In all cases, charges were either dismissed or the defendants acquitted. In the clapping case, Justice of the Peace C. Steven McMurry wrote an order criticizing both the MCSO and the County Attorney's office under Andrew Thomas.

Jason Odhner, one of defendants in the clapping case, settled for $75,000. At the time he was arrested, he was studying to be a nurse. He recalled how the charges against him interrupted his career.

"Arpaio gave me one scary night [in jail]," he said. "But I wasn't able to get my nursing license and was unemployed for six months because I was facing criminal charges. [Andrew] Thomas moved forward with a case he knew had no merit."

Asked if he was pleased with the outcome, Odhner confessed to mixed emotions.

"It's a weird thing, this idea that it can all be reduced to an economic transaction," he replied. "I'm not under any illusion that we've created real accountability. Because we've seen again and again that getting sued repeatedly is not a disincentive to the sheriff's department."

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/2010/07/joe_arpaio_protesters_score_50.php

Joe Arpaio's 168 287(g) Officers: Names, Ranks, Serial Numbers, Etc.

Sharing is caring. That's why I'm posting a link to a list of the names, ranks, serial numbers, hire dates, and pay rates for Sheriff Joe Arpaio's 287(g)-trained deputies. (You can view the list, here.) These are the deputies trained by the feds to enforce federal immigration law, and according to this roster released by the sheriff's office in response to a public records request, there are 168 of the Hispanic-hunting gendarmes in Arpaio's ranks.

Notable names include Sgt. Brett "Shut Up" Palmer, known for making hostile remarks toward elected county and city officials during an MCSO press conference earlier this year; Deputy Loren Gaytan, the MCSO's liaison to the town of Guadalupe and a participant in the MCSO's notorious Honduras project, training law enforcement down there; and Officer Anthony Reese, who may have been present when immigrant Maria del Carmen Garcia Martinez's arm was broken in MCSO custody.

Oddly, neither SWAT Team Captain David Letourneau, nor Lieutenant Joe Sousa are listed as being 287(g)-trained, though both are usually part of MCSO's anti-immigrant sweeps and raids.

I had asked ICE for this list through a FOIA request. But despite the vaunted "transparency" of the Obama administration, the feds responded to my request with a document wherein the actual names of the deputies involved were redacted. The MCSO to its credit simply coughed up the list shortly after I asked for it.

Recently, certain human rights activists in town have informed me that they've been trying to obtain this list to no avail, so now everyone will have it at their disposal. After all, whether they like it or not, these deputies are public servants. We pay their salaries, and have a right to know who they are.

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/2009/08/joe_arpaios_168_287g_officers.php