Shamelessness will get you far in life. Just ask Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his campaign money-man Chad Willems, who also is pimping the statewide legalize-pot initiative in this cycle. On Wednesday, Arpaio filed his first campaign finance report with Maricopa County Elections, showing him in possession of a $3.2 million…
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office conducted an untimely and unfair probe of a fatal crash caused by Sean Pearce, a county hearing officer ruled, resulting in further leniency for the deputy. Pearce, son of recalled state Senator Russell Pearce, an Arpaio crony, avoided criminal charges in the 2013 crash with…
You could call it the end of an era. The woman who for the past 23 years has served as Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s top flack, spin guru Lisa Allen, is resigning from the MCSO effective February 2. In an e-mail exchange with New Times, Allen confirmed her resignation, saying she’s…
Bad news for Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s ex-executive chief Brian Sands, and more of the same for Joe. On Tuesday, federal Judge G. Murray Snow denied a motion by Sands for summary judgment in the ongoing civil contempt case against himself, Arpaio, Arpaio’s chief deputy Jerry Sheridan, and two other Arpaio…
Sean Pearce had his two-week suspension slashed to one week in a 2013 crash that killed a citizen while the Maricopa County deputy was speeding in an unmarked vehicle without lights or sirens. Pearce, son of recalled state Senator Russell Pearce, already has avoided criminal charges in the crash. He…
The leader of an armed anti-government group that has occupied a federal wildlife building in Oregon once lived in Phoenix and can boast connections to local Republican politicians, such as Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Following a rally in support of two Oregon ranchers on Saturday, Ammon Bundy, son of rebellious Nevada…
Ever one to exploit an opportunity for attention, Sheriff Joe Arpaio is celebrating the arrest of a man he says has been stalking him for weeks. According to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, Ruben Pena, 43, was a frequent visitor to MCSO headquarters. He claimed to be “Jesus Christ” and…
California Governor Jerry Brown’s recent comment about Arizona’s gun laws being too loose not only constitutes an insult to each and every citizen of Arizona but is worthy of a public apology, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio declares. “I am offended, and every Arizonan should be as well,” Arpaio stated…
If former Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon is the Democratic alternative to Sheriff Joe in 2016, I will vote for Arpaio. Laughable? Of course, I would never do that. But any vote for “Sheriff Phil” also would be ridiculous. Gordon for sheriff ain’t gonna happen. No way, no how, regardless…
Thomas Beatie — who rose to fame as the first legally transgender man to become pregnant—is officially divorced after a tumultuous years-long court battle. Beatie had filed for divorce from his wife, Nancy Gillespie, in 2012. But in 2013 lower court Judge Douglas Gerlach refused to grant the divorce, ruling that Arizona’s ban…
Convicted child-rapist Adrian Cruz is back in Phoenix, following a six-year vacation from his lifetime sentence behind bars, a vacation he owes to the negligence of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s boys and girls in beige. Cruz, who escaped from MCSO custody in 2009, was arrested in April by Mexican police, after…
How many people have died in our sheriff’s jails? Six months ago, on May 4, 2015, I asked a spokesman for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio for a cadaver count. It was not an idle question. Since he was elected sheriff in 1993, county taxpayers have shelled out more than…
A bag containing $7,000 in cash. A self-made billionaire code-named “Cabo.” A media-hog sheriff obsessed with a wack investigation of President Obama’s birth certificate. A supposed CIA database of illegally harvested data. And a Seattle-based computer guru, code-named “Oz.” These are a few of the speakers and subjects found in…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s lead attorney John Masterson had just begun to argue why the court should pay no heed to the MCSO’ so-called Seattle investigation, when federal Judge G. Murray Snow, standing rather than sitting for most Friday’s final arguments in the sheriff’s contempt trial, interrupted him. The jurist stated…
Acting on an anonymous tip, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office says it busted a puppy mill near 348th Avenue and Van Buren Street in Tonopah, Arizona and rescued 130 dogs. Officials say there was dog feces everywhere, and that the animals appeared to have little food or water. The dogs…
Did Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s infamous Seattle investigation begin with a billionaire intent on revenge against his ex-wife? And was this wealthy individual drawn to Arpaio as part of the paranoid atmosphere that swirled around Arpaio’s investigation of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate? To judge from audio files recently entered into…
As testimony in Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s contempt trial wrapped up Friday morning in federal court, Judge G. Murray Snow offered an ominous warning for those not named as defendants in the civil case. Arpaio, his Chief Deputy and three other current and former Arpaio henchmen face allegations of civil contempt…
Will the real Mike Zullo please stand up? By noon Thursday, Zullo had invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination nearly 220 times while being questioned by plaintiffs counsel Stanley Young, during Day 19 of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s seemingly never-ending contempt trial. Through much of it, Zullo looked perturbed, angry…
Someone call Guinness Book of World Records: Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Cold Case Posse commander Mike Zullo may have a claim. In federal court Tuesday, during what likely is the last week of testimony in Arpaio’s civil contempt trial before U.S. District Court Judge G. Murray Snow, Zullo invoked his Fifth Amendment…
A Montana billionaire secreting thumb drives of sensitive info through airport security in his socks. Handwritten receipts for cash payments to MCSO confidential informant # 1437, aka, Dennis Montgomery, whose e-mail alias, “David Webb,” is also fictional super-spy Jason Bourne’s birth-name. And multiple timelines’ tying together former Phoenix Mayor Phil…
Federal Judge G. Murray Snow on Friday denied a motion from Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Cold Case Posse commander, Mike Zullo, for a protective order on 87 disputed items of evidence in Arpaio’s ongoing contempt trial. Snow instructed defense counsel to produce the documents, which are related to the MCSO’s controversial…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s birther-prober Mike Zullo attended a telephonic hearing before federal Judge G. Murray Snow on Tuesday, phoning in to a nearly-deserted courtroom to discuss pending issues in Arpaio’s ongoing contempt trial. Zullo was on the line with about 16 or so attorneys for the various parties in the…
