sheriff JOE ARPAIO chronicles Blog News Archive Interactive

Monday, December 21, 2009

Attorney to Prosecutors: Protect Presiding Judge
Colin Campbell, the attorney for indicted Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, has asked prosecutors to promise not to accuse the judge hearing the case of civil or criminal conspiracy.

On Dec. 1, Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Andrew Thomas filed a federal racketeering lawsuit against the entire Board of Supervisors and other county leaders.

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Thursday, December 17, 2009

Five Down, One To Go
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office added another notch to its belt of triumphs with Wednesday's dismissal of one of the lawsuits over the tradition of playing holiday music in the jails. Sheriff Joe Arpaio's reaction? "Score five for Santa Claus, I guess," he said, according to the news release from MCSO.

It was only Monday that Arpaio announced he would be continuing the annual tradition.

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Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Mid-Week Roundup
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's week keeps getting busier and busier.

It started Saturday with the Huffington Post's summary of the supervisors' indictments.

Then, after a successful deadbeat parent round-up, Arpaio made national news Sunday when the Los Angeles Times wrote about his apparently escalating tactics in the fight against the Board of Supervisors. Also over the weekend, deputies visited the homes of several mid- and low-level county government and court employees. The searches continued Tuesday, according to the Phoenix New Times, when deputies visited the homes of multiple judicial assistants.

On Monday, MCSO triumphantly declared that it will once again be piping holiday tunes throughout the jails, despite lawsuits filed. Four of the six suits (which apparently allege that listening to the harmonies of Alvin and the Chipmunks, Bing Cosby and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, according to past years' playlists, can be considered cruel and unusual punishment) have been dismissed; the Sheriff's Office says it's confident the other two will also be dismissed.

Also on Monday, ABC's Nightline aired its story on Arpaio, saying the sheriff is "unapologetic" about his actions.

Tuesday saw the filing of motions to dismiss charges relating to the court tower project. The attorneys who filed the motion, Thomas Irvine and Edward Novak, are named in Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas' racketeering lawsuit; Irvine and Novak say Arpaio and Thomas lacked the standing to file the suit in the first place.

On the same day, Mary Rose Wilcox's attorney spoke on her behalf at a news conference, essentially saying charges have been filed against her after she followed Thomas' own advice. Deputies asked the attorney, Colin Campbell, to speak with them about the court tower project hours afterward, giving him a deadline of 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Wednesday's editions of The Arizona Republic and The Washington Times feature editorials asking why nobody will stand up to Arpaio and lambasting the DOJ for its investigation into civil rights violations, respectively.

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Thursday, December 10, 2009

Of Land Deals And Supervisor Indictments
It's been a busy week for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas. On Tuesday, the two announced the indictments of Maricopa County Supervisors Mary Rose Wilcox and Don Stapley on multiple charges, leading 5 Investigates reporter Morgan Loew to wonder if Arpaio's own land deals violate the same law. Today, deputies served a search warrant on a charity with ties to Wilcox.

Also today, detention officer Adam Stoddard was freed pending the outcome of his appeal. Stoddard gained notoriety when he took a paper from a defense attorney's file, landing himself in jail when he refused to apologize.

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Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Thomas, Arpaio File Criminal Complaint Against Superior Court Judge
A criminal complaint has been filed against Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced in a news conference Wednesday.

The complaint accuses Donahoe of bribery and corruption in connection with an investigation into the downtown court tower project. Arpaio and Thomas also filed a racketeering lawsuit against Maricopa County leaders -- including the entire Board of Supervisors -- in connection with the court tower project last week.

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Tuesday, December 8, 2009

DOJ Creates Tip Line As Part Of Racial Profiling Investigation
The Phoenix Business Journal is reporting that the U.S. Department of Justices has created a tip line as part of its investigation into allegations of racial profiling by Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his deputies:
The tip line — 877-613-2137 — is in both English and Spanish and asks those with information about the sheriff’s department to leave their names and numbers.

[...]

Justice Department spokesman Alejandro Miyar said the tip line is part of the federal civil rights inquiry and that the department also is using 800 numbers for other investigations.

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Arpaio Wants $7M For Legal Fees
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his office are requesting $7 million from the Board of Supervisors to pay for legal fees:
The money would pay for anticipated legal fees from Valley law firms Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak and Stewart; Sanders and Park, and Wilenchik and Bartness.

County officials said $7 million is the equivalent of 100 salaries for full-time employees or a 1.4 cent drop in the property tax rate.

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Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Arpaio, Thomas Sue ... Everyone?
In a news conference Monday, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas announced they're filing a federal racketeering lawsuit against many county leaders, some attorneys and several judges, among others. The suit alleges that the Board of Supervisors actively worked to prevent the sheriff's and the county attorney's offices from performing their duties.

In a statement, the Board of Supervisors called the suit a "sore loser lawsuit." A county spokeswoman also said that Arpaio and Thomas appear to have "very active imaginations."

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Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Hecklers Force Arpaio Off Stage At First Amendment Forum
Protesters at Monday night's First Amendment forum at ASU broke into song, interrupting the proceedings and causing Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to walk off the stage. (Read full story)

Raw video of the event:

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