This morning the Arizona Republic reported the findings of a story that's been rumored about ever since the recent release of a bombshell report following the 6-month investigation of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's political slush fund, cronyism, and other nasty bits of corruption. Arpaio has a hard-on for arresting Mexican car washers, burger flippers, and lawn mowers, but evidently hundreds of sex crimes have gone unsolved -- even uninvestigated -- under his watch:
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office failed to adequately investigate more than 400 sex-crime cases, including dozens in El Mirage, over a two-year period because of poor oversight and former Chief Deputy David Hendershott's desire to protect a key investigator from bad publicity, according to documents pertaining to a recent internal investigation released by the Sheriff's Office.
The errors led to interminable delays for victims of serious crimes who waited years for the attackers to be brought to justice, if they were ever caught. Arizona Republic
According to ABC15 News, most of the victims were teens, while some were as young as 3 years old. Arpaio is awfully fond of blabbering about "the rule of law." I guess girls and women don't factor into his rulebook. Especially when they are Hispanic.
Someone tell me again: Why does this corrupt buffoon still have a job?
The story begins several years ago when El Mirage, a tiny but growing mostly Hispanic community northwest of Phoenix, hired the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) to provide additional security. The city paid MCSO $3.6 million, something Arpaio has done with other small communities.
El Mirage residents soon began to question the quality of Arpaio's police force. A group of parishioners at Santa Teresita Catholic Church became frustrated with hundreds of emergency calls placed to the Sheriff's Office that went unanswered or were dropped. They took the issue to the City Council in early 2007.
Not receiving the service they thought they paid for, the small city decided to rebuild its own police force, which is when the unsolved crimes started to come to light:
Problems with El Mirage cases emerged in late 2007 after Phoenix police veterans were hired to rebuild the El Mirage Police Department. A sheriff's official provided the new leaders with copies of criminal cases. They were shocked to find investigations, particularly those involving sex crimes, often ended after an initial report. Most had been forwarded to a "Special Victims Unit" at the Sheriff's Office, but there was no evidence of any follow-up.
So, what was Joe Arpaio's response when El Mirage dropped him and went to work creating its own police force? You guessed it ... he conducted one of his immigration sweeps in the town! Talk about a vindictive prick.
That event, which sent nearly 100 deputies and posse members to El Mirage in October 2007, was likely the largest police presence Arpaio ever provided the city.
Of course, the sex crimes snafu wasn't just a matter of faulty computer equipment, which was Arpaio's excuse, or incompetence, which runs rampant at the Sheriff's Office. No, it was caused by the very thing that's behind just about every other screw-up at MCSO: corrupt officials obstructing justice.
... a recently concluded investigation by Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu revealed that an internal probe to get to the root of the problem was blocked by Hendershott two years ago because it would have reflected poorly on an investigator he considered crucial to a separate case.
Yup, there's Deputy Sheriff Dave Hendershott again, blocking another investigation, which seemed to be his primary role at the Sheriff's Office. Babeu's 6-month investigation buried Hendershott and several other corrupt cops under a mountain of criminal activity. Hendershott is gone now, fired by his good friend and boss Arpaio, but does anyone believe the micro-managing Sheriff didn't know what his #2 was up to?
In the wake of the El Mirage scandal, another group is calling for Arpaio to step down, something that's become a weekly occurrence:
Now the community group Living United for Change in Arizona, better known as LUCHA, has launched an online petition calling for the Maricopa County Attorney to investigate and Sheriff Joe Arpaio to resign.
The petition states: "$100 Million 'Misspent' and 400 Uninvestigated Sex Crimes…End the Corruption and Abuses Now!" ABC15
The $100 Million 'Mispent' refers to an inmate services fund that Arpaio, over an 8-year period, directed to his immigration campaign, so he could hire more agents and buy himself tanks and shit.
Two, count 'em, two federal investigations of Arpaio have been underway since 2008. One is a probe of civil rights violations triggered by his immigration crusade, while another involves a grand jury looking into multiple abuses of power. Add this to the list. Feds, have you reached that tipping point yet?
