New Stapley Case Won't be Picked Up by Yavapai County by Court Deadline Today

The Monday arrest of Maricopa County Supervisor Don Stapley triggered a 48-hour window in which to file charges. Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office, which apparently made the arrest in the white-collar case without first consulting a prosecutor's office, recommends Stapley be charged with 93 felonies and seven misdemeanors related to alleged slush...

By Ray Stern

September 23, 2009

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The Monday arrest of Maricopa County Supervisor Don Stapley triggered a 48-hour window in which to file charges. Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office, which apparently made the arrest in the white-collar case without first consulting a prosecutor's office, recommends Stapley be charged with 93 felonies and seven misdemeanors related to alleged slush funds.

Dennis McGrane, chief deputy for the Yavapai County Attorney's office, just told us that charges won't be filed today by his office. (Yavapai has been handling Stapley's other criminal case, the one that fell apart last Friday). If no prosecuting agency files charges by midnight tonight, he says, whatever court orders Stapley has been under since the arrest are null and void.

That's not to say Stapley won't face charges by Yavapai or another county in the future.

Wouldn't surprise us if the Sheriff's Office arrests Stapley every week, until some prosecutor steps up to take the case.

More to come later today...

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Ray Stern is the former news editor of Phoenix New Times. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Arizona for more than two decades. He's won numerous awards for his reporting, including the Arizona Press Club's Don Bolles Award for Investigative Journalism.