Round two of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s federal contempt trial began last Thursday. Yet revelations from the testimony of Arpaio’s chief deputy, Jerry Sheridan, and from portions of deposition transcripts made public already have been damning. Here are the 10 of the most eyebrow-raising: 10. According to Sheridan, the Maricopa County…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s absurd Seattle investigation cost taxpayers at least $250,000, improperly dipped into federal grant money, and nearly depleted the MCSO’s RICO fund. This, according to Arpaio’s Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan, who spent yesterday on the stand in federal court, much of it being skewered by ACLU attorney Cecillia…
ACLU attorney Cecillia Wang played hammer to Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan’s nail in federal court Thursday, as Sheridan was the first to take the stand in the contempt trial of Sheridan, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and three current and former MCSO bigwigs. The multi-day hearing, with dates scheduled in September, October…
Recruiters at the University of Phoenix deceived prospective students and surreptitiously recruited military veterans to enroll at the school, a new lawsuit filed by two former employees alleges. Marlena Aldrich and Kristen Nolan worked as military liaisons at a U of P learning center in Louisville, Kentucky, where they were…
Shamelessness must be a requirement to work for Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Just hours before the second round in Arpaio’s contempt trial was set to begin Thursday morning in federal court, his attorney John Masterson (one of several) submitted a motion to block “any inquiry during the continued contempt proceedings regarding the…
Recently released excerpts of depositions of Joe Arpaio’s ex-attorney, Tim Casey, and others in the sheriff’s ongoing contempt case point to possible perjury by Arpaio and his chief deputy, Jerry Sheridan, during their April testimony in federal court. The excerpts, made public as part of the court record, also confirm…
Next time you catch John Boorman’s classic 1972 film Deliverance, Phoenix lawyer Dennis Wilenchik may come to mind. Particularly during the notorious “squeal like a pig” scene, when a character played by Ned Beatty is raped by a Georgia redneck and made to crawl on all fours. Earlier this year, the pugnacious,…
A former marine sniper who suffers from mental illness is suing for $15 million after being run over in front of the Carl Hayden VA Medical Center two years ago following his discharge fr om the facility. Jason Cooper, 41, a California man who served in the Marine Corps for…
Taxpayers pick up the tab for Sheriff Joseph M. Arpaio’s attorney’s fees, court costs and settlements in civil suits. Political contributors bankroll his campaigns. He and his wife Ava are millionaires, and own a number of pricey properties in the Valley. His salary with Maricopa County is more than $100,000…
About 48 hours before his lifeless body was found hanging by the neck from a blue rope tied to a pool table at his home, ex-MCSO deputy Ramon “Charley” Armendariz told a group of friends and neighbors that he was a planning a press conference where he would “expose the…
You can’t fault Sheriff Joe Arpaio for lack of chutzpah. The guy continues to beg for campaign donations while his contempt of the federal court in the ACLU’s big civil rights case Melendres v. Arpaio is costing us beaucoup bucks. Check this recent gimmicky e-mail (below) desperately seeking any cash you’ve…
When Nancy Markham’s ex-boyfriend wrapped his hands around her neck and attempted to strangle her last year, she called 911. She called again when he showed up with a handgun and tried to break into her house, again when he threatened her with a knife, and again when he drove…
When it comes to Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s 22-year reign over Maricopa County, a cursory glance at newspaper clippings from earlier in his career reveals that some things never change. Consider Arpaio’s penchant for investigating his enemies, his critics, and anyone who stands in his way. In January 1999, Maricopa County…
No, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, you can’t sue President Obama for filling up Maricopa County jails. That’s what three judges with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit concluded when they affirmed a lower court decision to dismiss Arpaio’s lawsuit challenging the president’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and…
A status conference Tuesday morning in downtown Phoenix before federal Judge G. Murray Snow continued his court’s inexorable march toward a second round of contempt hearings in the ACLU’s big racial profiling case Melendres v. Arpaio, currently scheduled to begin September 22. In Tuesday’s hearing, Snow allowed the U.S. Department…
When a reliable source sends photos of a recycling firm loading up computers in front of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s downtown headquarters at Jackson Street and 5th Avenue — given past events — it’s cause for concern. Though county officials maintain that everything is on the up and up, federal Judge…
Like a Roman emperor of old, Sheriff Joe knows how to keep the mob entertained, with the help of his echo chamber — the local media — which too often takes its cues from Arpaio’s PR staff, lapping up whatever drivel that’s dis-engorged, then spewing it forth for the evening…
The words of Sheriff Joe’s Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan came back to sink their shark-like teeth in his hindquarters Friday in federal Judge G. Murray Snow’s courtroom, where Snow again indicated that the authority of his court had been abrogated by MCSO satraps, and criminal contempt charges could result. During…
It ain’t just Sheriff Joe’s poll numbers that have dropped like a hot rock on thin ice. Arpaio’s much ballyhooed posse has taken a hit numbers-wise as well, according to the court-appointed monitor’s latest quarterly report. Arpaio uses his posse to garner media attention, sending his volunteer force of non-cops…
A Phoenix anti-puppy-mill pet-store ordinance upheld in U.S. District Court this week punishes the wrong people, critics declare. While the court ruled that the city of Phoenix can keep its ordinance — which the Humane Society of the United States celebrated as a “landmark” victory for the animal-rights world and a blow…
Though not quite the “raid” that some local media depicted it as, Friday’s events were nonetheless dramatic, with United States District Court Judge G. Murray Snow calling an “emergency meeting” for 3 p.m. at the request of his monitor Robert Warshaw, whose team has been in town for the week…
During an hour-long status conference Monday in Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s never-ending contempt case, federal Judge G. Murray Snow granted a request by the U.S. Department of Justice to review documents from Arpaio’s confidential informant Dennis Montgomery in the MCSO’s so-called “Seattle investigation.” That investigation, as first revealed in June of…
