In fact, the payment was mandated by state law, and Goddard personally didn't receive a penny. There was no evidence that Goddard had committed a crime, but Arpaio's office kept the investigation open for years. Arpaio's own command personnel told the sheriff about their doubts regarding the case. MACE Sergeant Brandon Luth later told Babeu's detectives that he believed Arpaio was using the Goddard investigation as "a way of having leverage over the AG's Office."
Petersen, whose case was investigated by MACE in April 2007, had been convicted of failing to disclose about $4,000 in earnings. But this wasn't anywhere near as egregious as an MCSO scheme to violate campaign-finance laws in 2007 and 2008:
At a December news conference, Joe Arpaio listens to questions about botched sex-crimes investigations under his watch.
![Levalya Beyart of El Mirage says that after her daughter reported being raped in 2007, the Sheriff's Office told her, "This [is] not a priority."](http://media.phoenixnewtimes.com/joe-arpaio-s-office-says-to-hell-with-the-children.7636314.40.jpg)
Jamie Peachey
Levalya Beyart of El Mirage says that after her daughter reported being raped in 2007, the Sheriff's Office told her, "This [is] not a priority."
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Arpaio's two top men, Hendershott and Deputy Chief Larry Black, conspired to raise more than $100,000 from wealthy Arpaio supporters to secretly fund a smear ad against Arpaio's 2008 opponent, Dan Saban.
There's no reason to believe Arpaio didn't know about the plan. Days before the TV ad about Saban aired, Hendershott was "like a kid in a candy shop," telling people that something big was about to happen, Lisa Allen told investigators. From the Babeu report, it appears that all the top officials in Arpaio's headquarters on the 19th floor of the Wells Fargo building in downtown Phoenix knew what was up.
Goddard's office, which had received complaints about the undercover fundraising work, conducted a criminal investigation that uncovered evidence of potential fraud, operating an illegal enterprise, and obstruction of justice. New Times detailed the case, which involved apparent corruption at both the Sheriff's Office and the state Republican Party, in an April 14 article, "Love Connection."
State Attorney General Tom Horne transferred the investigation to the U.S. Attorney's Office in early 2011. The feds have yet to charge anyone.
Under the supervision of Arpaio and Thomas, MACE plowed ahead with investigations against three county supervisors: Don Stapley, Mary Rose Wilcox, and Andy Kunasek.
The bogus charges of failing to disclose financial information against Stapley and Wilcox later were dismissed. No charges were filed against Kunasek, who was accused of wasting $14,000 in county funds to sweep for bugs believed to have been illegally planted by Arpaio's office in its war against county officials.
It appears that Thomas' underling, Deputy County Attorney Lisa Aubuchon, tried to extort Kunasek.
Thomas left office in 2009 after his unsuccessful run for state attorney general, and Aubuchon — a transcript of an interview with Kunasek shows — suggested to the supervisor that the criminal case against him would be dropped if he would agree to help pick a new county attorney acceptable to Thomas.
The State Bar of Arizona, whose disciplinary panel scrutinized Thomas and Aubuchon's role in MACE cases, is considering whether they should be disbarred.
Arpaio, Thomas, and their former employees remain under investigation by federal authorities on allegations of abuse of power, most of which have to do with their conduct as the heads of MACE.
Before MACE, Thomas and Arpaio didn't always see eye to eye, especially on illegal immigration.
Thomas had campaigned on the issue before getting elected in 2004. But in August 2005, following the passage of an Arizona law that made it a state crime to smuggle immigrants, Arpaio told the Arizona Republic, "I want the authority to lock up smugglers, but I am not going to lock up illegals hanging around street corners. I'm not going to waste my resources going after a guy in a truck when he picks up five illegals to go trim palm trees."
However, seeing that Thomas had public support for his anti-illegal-immigrant ideas, Arpaio changed his stance. Thomas interpreted the 2005 law to mean that average illegal immigrants — not just smugglers — could be charged with conspiracy to smuggle themselves into the country.
Arpaio allied with Thomas and began hunting all undocumented Mexicans. By mid-2006, Arpaio was using hundreds of deputies and volunteer posse members to arrest illegal immigrants, who then would be charged with conspiracy by Thomas.
No other Arizona county sheriff or county attorney felt this tack was appropriate. (New County Attorney Bill Montgomery has continued to accept such cases.)
In July 2007, Arpaio set up a hotline that citizens could use to tattle on illegal immigrants.
By then, Arpaio had diverted a massive amount of his office's resources toward busting illegal immigrants.
In another far cry from the four or five detectives assigned to investigate sex crimes countywide, Arpaio's office ultimately put 100 deputies through weeks of training to become cross-certified federal immigration agents. The deputies then proceeded to do exactly what Arpaio said in 2005 he wouldn't do — bust average migrants.
Undocumented housecleaners and landscapers driving pickups with cracked windshields became a priority. In September 2007, dozens of deputies and detectives were assigned to a sting that resulted in the arrest of 18 undocumented street-corner tamale vendors.
In the same month, Arpaio began the first of his immigrant roundups, which he called "crime sweeps." That October, just before the contract between El Mirage and the Sheriff's Office ended, Arpaio sent 100 deputies and posse members to the town for a sweep that netted eight illegal immigrants.
Also around that time, Arpaio dedicated numerous deputies and about $300,000 in public funds for a three-episode reality show called Smile . . . You're Under Arrest, starring him and his agency.
