Feds close criminal investigation on Ariz. sheriff
Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio attends the third day of the Republican National Convention at the Tampa Bay Times Forum on August 29, 2012 in Tampa, Florida. / Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Updated 10:44 PM ET
(AP) PHOENIX - Federal authorities said Friday that they're closing their abuse-of-power investigation into Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona without filing charges against him.
Authorities were investigating America's self-proclaimed toughest sheriff for his part in failed public corruption cases against officials who were odds with him. Arpaio brought cases against a judge and two county officials in 2009.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann Birmingham Scheel released a saying her office "is closing its investigation into allegations of criminal conduct" by current and former members of the sheriff's and county attorney's offices.
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Scheel, who is based in Arizona, didn't elaborate but said she was acting on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice.
The federal probe focused specifically on the sheriff's anti-public-corruption squad. In a separate probe, the U.S. Justice Department has accused Arpaio's office of a wide range of civil rights violations, and in another case, a federal judge has yet to rule in a civil case brought by a group of Latino plaintiffs that claimed Arpaio and his deputies engaged in racial profiling.
Arpaio was scheduled to give a news conference Friday night after returning from the Republican National Convention in Florida.
His deputy chief Jack MacIntyre, said, "the U.S. attorney's office and its investigators recognized what sheriff's office has said all along: We did not make any prosecutorial decisions, even though things were referred to the then-county attorney."
The timing of the federal authorities' announcement — at 5 p.m. on a Friday before a holiday weekend — was questioned by some Arpaio critics.
"It is a miscarriage of justice that the federal government is dropping its case against Sheriff Arpaio and to make such an announcement on the Friday night before the Democratic National Convention can only be politically motivated to shield the administration from criticism," Pablo Alvarado, director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said in a statement.
The 79-year-old sheriff and his top ally, former County Attorney Andrew Thomas, were embroiled in a three-year feud with county officials and judges and defended their investigations as necessary to root out corruption.
The officials who were targets of the investigations contend the probes were trumped up as retaliation for political and legal disagreements with the sheriff and prosecutor.
Criminal cases against former Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe and county supervisors Mary Rose Wilcox and Don Stapley were dismissed after a judge ruled that Thomas prosecuted one of the three officials for political gain and had a conflict of interest in pressing the case.
Authorities say the charges against Donahoe were filed in a bid to prevent the judge from holding a hearing regarding Arpaio and Thomas' claim that judges and county officials conspired to hinder a probe into the construction of a court building.
Donahoe had disqualified Thomas from handling the court building investigation and was poised to hold another hearing over a request to appoint special prosecutors to handle the probe. The hearing was called off after the charges were filed against the judge.
The judge also had been critical of the ability of Arpaio's office to bring inmates to court on time for hearings.
Thomas was disbarred in early April by an ethics panel of the Arizona courts that found he brought unsuccessful criminal cases against the judge and two county officials for the purpose of embarrassing them.
In the separate probe, which is still ongoing, the Justice Department says Arpaio's office racially profiles Latinos, retaliates against critics of its immigration patrols and bases its immigration patrols on racially charged citizen complaints that did not allege crimes. The sheriff denies the allegations.
And in the civil case, the Latino plaintiffs aren't seeking monetary damages. Instead, they want a declaration that Arpaio's office uses racial profiling and an order requiring policy changes. If Arpaio loses the case, he won't face jail time or fines.
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Holder calls us racial cowards, yet he won't prosecute the New Black Panther voter intimidation case, wants to give terrorists more rights than Citizens while he covers up the Fast and Furious debacle, uses the IRS to enforce a health care mandate that the majority of the people and States don't want, all with full collusion of the liberal media.
If Obama "wins" another four years, the freedoms we still have will be a distant memory as we move towards a police state run by czars and unchecked Executive dictatorial power.
LIE. Arpaio arrested and prosecuted his political enemies, and not only were the charges thrown out his lawyers were disbarred for their conduct. Using the law as youu personal tool of vengeance is just un-American it is what the Soviets did.
"Using the so-called Justice Department to force States to allow dead people and illegal"
LIE. The courts (not the Justice Department) have applied the law and thrown out voter suppression laws Republicans have enacted to prevent American citizens from voting.
"while making it more difficult for patriotic service men and women to vote"
LIE. Republicans were trying to get ballots counted that were cast AFTER the voting ended, effectively attempting to stuff the ballot box.
"Holder calls us racial cowards"
LIE. Holder never said this.
"he won't prosecute the New Black Panther voter intimidation case,"
LIE. There is no "case" to prosecute. It doesn't exist.
"give terrorists more rights than Citizens"
LIE. Holder and Obama have vigorously prosecuted terrorism across the globe, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. Under Obama's watch we killed Osama Bin Laden, something the Republicans refused to do.
"IRS to enforce a health care mandate that the majority of the people and States don't want"
LIE. The IRS has nothing to do with ACA and the conservative, Republican Supreme Court declared it legal and Constitutional.
"all with full collusion of the liberal media."
LIE. The most popular and most watch "news" organization in the US is the rightwing, Republican dominated Fox News.
If Obama "wins"
LIE. Obama didn't "win" the last election falsely as you imply, he won by getting the most votes. It's called "democracy".
And finally:
"the freedoms we still have will be a distant memory as we move towards a police state run by czars and unchecked Executive dictatorial power."
People like yourself who don't believe in free and fair elections and who blatantly lie about their political opponents simply to gain power are the real danger here, not the rest of us who believe in freedom an liberty for all Americans.
If anyone needs to be investigated on an abuse of power charge related to illegal immigration, it is the president.
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No, but he will have to change his M.O.
Wow, what an amazing c-o-i-n-c-i-d-e-n-c-e, right?
If there were any doubts as to the slimy political agenda of Eric Holder and his corrupt fellow conspirators, the cynical timing of this announcement has put them to rest.
Holder and his hyenas have actually managed to give sleaze a bad name.
Wow, what an amazing c-o-i-n-c-i-d-e-n-c-e, right?
If there were any doubts as to the slimy political agenda of Eric Holder and his corrupt fellow conspirators, the cynical timing of this announcement has put them to rest.
Holder and his hyenas have actually managed to give sleaze a bad name.
This is a news report? The charges were determined to be inadequate for trial by Federal investigators and Prosecutor, but not by the media. This does not pass the smell test for unbiased reporting.