U.S. Ends Criminal Probe of Controversial Arizona Sheriff

REUTERS

By Tim Gaynor

September 1, 2012

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-09-01/news/sns-rt-us-usa-arizona-arpaiobre88000f-20120831_1_controversial-arizona-sheriff-arpaio-county-sheriff-paul-babeu

Two tough-on-immigration Arizona sheriffs with national profiles in the Republican Party were cleared of criminal wrongdoing on Friday in unrelated probes, though one remains accused of racial profiling and other abuses in a pair of federal lawsuits.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona said it had closed its criminal investigation of alleged financial misconduct by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, self-described as "America's toughest sheriff", and was declining to bring charges.

But a separate U.S. Justice Department investigation and lawsuit relating to alleged civil rights abuses by Arpaio's office, including accusations of widespread racial profiling in his immigration enforcement, is continuing, federal prosecutors said.

And a federal judge is expected to rule soon in a similar suit brought against Arpaio, this one a class-action case by five Hispanic citizens who claimed they were stopped by the sheriff's deputies because of their ethnicity.

Earlier on Friday, another Arizona lawman with national ties to the Republican Party and a reputation for cracking down on illegal border crossings, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, was cleared of criminal charges by the state attorney general's office.

Babeu resigned as co-chair of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's state campaign after allegations he threatened a male lover with deportation but asked for the state investigation of his conduct to clear his name.

Babeu acknowledged at the time he was gay and had a personal relationship with his accuser, Jose Orozco, who was reported to be from Mexico, but denied that he had made any threat to deport him.

"The Attorney General's Office will not file charges against either Babeu or Orozco," Solicitor General Dave Cole said in a statement.

"The investigation determined that Babeu did not commit any criminal violations and further concluded that, although Orozco conducted himself in a manner that may constitute a violation of the law, there was no reasonable likelihood of conviction or anything more than a misdemeanor charge," Cole added.

Babeu said in a statement that "the truth had won out in the end", and that he had been fully exonerated.

The decision on the Arpaio case marked the end of an investigation that began in November 2010 at the behest of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to examine alleged financial improprieties by the county sheriff and his deputies.

A criminal inquiry into several of those matters was concluded last summer with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona declining to initiate charges.