PHOENIX — The federal abuse-of-power investigation into America's self-proclaimed toughest sheriff may have been closed without criminal charges but Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's legal troubles are far from over.
A civil case brought by a small group of Latinos who accuse Arpaio's office of systematically racially profiling is awaiting a verdict from an Arizona-based federal judge.
The U.S. Department of Justice has also sued the sheriff for alleged constitutional violations including racial profiling, retaliating against Arpaio critics, punishing Latino jail inmates with limited English skills for speaking Spanish and failing to adequately investigate a large number of sex-crimes cases. No trial date in that case has been set.
The Justice Department announced late Friday that it would not pursue criminal charges against the sheriff or his office, or against former Maricopa County top prosecutor Andrew Thomas and a top Thomas aide, Lisa Aubuchon, for abuse of power.
Thomas and Aubuchon were disbarred by the state Supreme Court earlier this year after an ethics panel decided they brought criminal charges against two county officials and a judge in December 2009 with the purpose of embarrassing them. The cases were investigated by Arpaio's now-closed anti-public corruption squad.
Thomas was a longtime Arpaio ally.
Authorities were investigating Arpaio for his part in failed public corruption cases against officials who were odds with him. The sheriff brought cases against a judge and two county officials in 2009 and Thomas prosecuted them.
Federal authorities also said Friday that they have decided to not prosecute matters tied to alleged misuse of county credit cards by sheriff's officials, alleged misspending of jail-enhancement funds and other matters.
The yearslong probe by the FBI and federal prosecutors into Arpaio, Thomas and their offices began during the tenure of President George W. Bush, although Arpaio, a fellow Republican, has since called it politically motivated since.
"If I did something wrong there would be indictments floating all over the place," Arpaio said at a news conference called late Friday night. "I'm not going to get into all the details whether it's political, a witchhunt or whatever you have. The bottom line is we were cleared and we should stay with that and not get into all the politics involved."
Arpaio critics reacted with dismay to the decision not to seek criminal charges, saying they had hoped the Justice Department would finally act against what they call an out-of-control sheriff's office.
"It's an understandable reaction," said Paul Charlton, a former U.S. attorney in Arizona who has worked for one of the county supervisors who was charged. "I can see how after so many years and so much misconduct by Joe Arpaio you would have that feeling.
Charlton said prosecutors had to measure the likelihood of proving any criminal case beyond a reasonable doubt.
"You have to have a reasonable likelihood of success and I trust they made this decision based upon the facts and the law."
But the sheriff will have a different challenge in the civil cases he now faces.
"As a practical and a legal matter it means nothing," Charlton said of the decision not to pursue criminal cases. "This is a different venue and a different standard of proof. It is one that many of Joe Arpaio's critics, including myself, would have liked to have seen come out differently.
"But the end of Joe Arpaio's legal troubles is a long, long way away. He already has lost many legal fights. He has been found to have committed significant misconduct, not the least of which was the finding in the state bar proceeding regarding Andrew Thomas. And I think we will see more of those findings in the future."
Arpaio, 80, is seeking re-election to a sixth term in November. He has a multi-million dollar campaign account on hand to repel two challengers seeking his seat.
DavidNichols posted at 11:32 am on Tue, Sep 4, 2012.
It is not over, Arizona Voters have had enough of the Racism, Racial Profiling, and Hate that has crashed our State,/Nation.
It is time for a "Change" back to "Good"
Not "Attrition!
Anyone think the January 2008 start of this Anti-Immigrant Rant, and the Start of "The Great Recession/Foreclosure Crisis/New Deficit are not related?
Wake up America it is "Time for a Change"
Arpaio must go!
retired03 posted at 9:45 am on Sun, Sep 2, 2012.
Go soak your head cisneros, as usual, your take on things is way out there and makes no sense. You criticize and blame the liberal media but like others like you, you never provide proof, just the tired old repeated statement, "liberal media." I read the above article twice. Not once did the author provide an opinion. Facts were stated and quotes quoted. That’s it. Now, please tell me what the liberal slant was. That's right, there is none. You like all of your ramblings in here, want the media, groups and organizations to get in the paper and tell everyone what a wonderful hero Joe is. Well, guess what? He is not. He has built an empire on the backs of the ultra-conservative. There are enough sustained complaints against him to warrant an investigation. His crony Thomas went too far and got disbarred. Like all narcissists, he believes he did nothing wrong when it was as plain as the nose on your face. Arpaio is too experienced a snake oil salesman to let that happen. He goes just far enough then backs off, like when he fired his other crony, henderschott. Trust me, that was to take the heat off him and his buddy is being taken care of somehow by arpaio. Yes, I have no proof but those two built a machine at MCSO, he will not fail him. I too understand why the federal prosecutors did not prosecute. I did not like it but I understand it. People like joe need to be stopped. Not because he is a republican but because he believes he is above the law and flaunts it. He cares very little about the citizens of Maricopa County and more about his political machine. Period. A blind man can see it.
one of the last posted at 7:31 pm on Sat, Sep 1, 2012.
So the Majority of Maricopa County aprove of Apaio letting the Rapists of 400+ children get away with it so they can just go on and rape more children.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 7:26 pm on Sat, Sep 1, 2012.
I remember when the......Associated Press...would never, ever, publish a piece of "YELLOW JOURNALISM".....like this.
But just look at how the Liberal Press in Arizona, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS and your "tax-supported" PBC Channel 8, KAET....."HORIZON" and "HORIZONTE"...TV programs have denigrated, demeaned and slurred, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in the Past and even Today.
NOT ONE OF VALLEY OF THE SUN'S NEWSPAPERS ACKNOWLEDGED THAT SHERIFF JOE ARPAIO RECEIVED.........188,870 VOTES THIS PAST TUESDAY.
SAD TO SAY, THIS NEWSPAPER, THE EAST VALLEY TIMES WAS ONE OF THOSE NEWSPAPERS.
VENDETTAS HAVE NO BUSINESS IN PUBLIC JOURNALISM. SOMETHING THAT OUR UNIVERSITY SCHOOLS OF JOURNALISM DON'T SEEM TO TEACH ANY MORE.
Accuracy posted at 7:04 pm on Sat, Sep 1, 2012.
“Decision not to charge Sheriff Arpaio isn't the end” . . . That is, according to Randy Parraz, head of Citizens for a Better Arizona, which launched a "Joe's Got to Go" campaign to defeat Arpaio in the upcoming November election.
Federal prosecutors closed an exhaustive four-year FBI criminal investigation and grand-jury probe targeting Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, former County Attorney Andrew Thomas and their top deputies.
Ann Birmingham Scheel, acting on behalf of U.S. Attorney John Leonardo, stated (and listed) in a letter to Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery; Allegations that were investigated – civil-rights violations, misuse of public money, perjury – and said prosecution was declined because of a lack of evidence or an insurmountable burden of proof.
In other words – Feds are saying “there will be no indictments”.
Just like the re-elections in 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008, Maricopa County voters believe Sheriff Joe Arpaio will not lose his re-election in November.
OldGuy61 posted at 6:04 pm on Sat, Sep 1, 2012.
No surprise here. I cannot for the life of me see why Mary Rose Wilcox hasn't ended up in jail. Before my retirement, I worked for several public works departments. The rules were ALWAYS the same. We were not allowed to take ANYTHING from vendors or anyone else doing business with the cities. We were not allowed to even take a free baseball cap. If we did, we could have been terminated. However, when Mary Rose Wilcox takes low or no interest loans from Chicanos por la Causa, then that's OK!! She is their loud-mouthed supporter as they try to get Joe Arpaio run out of town so that the illegals will be left alone. Watch the elections. Joe will win again by a landslide like he always has. The great majority of voters support what Joe does for our county and state. Unfortunately, we only hear from the vocal minority on the newscasts.