Arpaio De Facto Lawman: Second Edition

Epilogue

Introduction

Much has been written about the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) in Arizona during the four terms Sheriff Arpaio has served. The following accounting is largely about my personal experiences within the Command apparatus of the Office. However, to accurately tell this chronicle, I must begin at the beginning so the reader will have a clear understanding of the events as they actually occurred. I don’t want anyone to be misled or influenced by what they read, see or hear in the news media.

Within the upper level management of the Sheriff’s Office, there is a culture that promotes a Machiavellian reaction to perceived criticism.

A law enforcement agency should be run efficiently, transparently and honorably. This should go without saying. Additionally, people can only make good decisions if they are empowered with information. Almost everyone within the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is honest and hardworking. There are handfuls at the top that are not. Unfortunately, these few, due to their positions of authority, have had a negative impact on the Sheriff’s Office, its associates and the public. I hope this manuscript gives Arizona citizens a perspective of truth regarding what has happened within one of their Sheriff’s Offices.

Some of the names in this account have been changed as a means to protect innocents or as a shield from retaliation.

Chapter 1

In the Beginning

All stories have a beginning, so it is fitting I begin with my first encounter with Joe Arpaio. However, I need to preface with what I was doing at the time and had been doing prior to this encounter.

The year was 1992 and Arpaio had just been elected, ending the disastrous term of Sheriff Tom Agnos. It has been widely stated Agnos lost this election due to the failed and flawed investigation of the Buddhist Temple murders in August of 1991.

I had the sad experience of being one of the investigators on the case and was the last still assigned to the case when Arpaio took office. The handling of this problem, at the time, was bittersweet for me in the end, but that’s for another book.

One day, I was in a uniform store in central Phoenix with my old Narcotics partner, Ray Jones. Arpaio entered. Jones had met him previously. Having recognized Jones, Arpaio approached us. Jones introduced me and we had a brief conversation. Arpaio asked me, Where do you work? I said I was assigned to work the Buddhist Temple murder case. Arpaio gruffly said, That’s nothing to be proud of.

When the newly elected Sheriff makes such a comment to a lowly detective, it was a little disconcerting. Arpaio had made statements throughout his campaign alluding to his intention to investigate the conduct of those involved with the Temple Murder case.

Assigned detectives believed early in the investigation, focus was on the wrong suspects. The belief was sullied, however, by Chief Deputy Leese, who was personally overseeing the investigation.

Criticism was of the arrest of some people from Tucson. Many, including first line detectives, believed they were innocent. The Tucson connection was not even reasonable.

Considering the controversy, I reiterated to Arpaio the fears of the investigators involved. Arpaio said not to worry; he was going to look into the investigation. Trying to connect the Tucson end of the case would be stopped.

Arpaio’s statement put me at ease. When I returned to the office I let others involved in the Temple Murders investigation know what the Sheriff elect told me. This included the case commander, who was not pleased, as he was still dead set on implicating the Tucson principals.

As Arpaio took office, I was transferred to the Organized Crime Unit. I was happy and put the encounter with the Sheriff behind me. In the meantime, the Temple Murders case commander was reassigned to prisoner transport.

An inquiry into the Temple Murders investigation was implemented. Due to the expanse of deputies and the voluminous nature of the report, it was a long and tedious ordeal. I spent an entire day answering questions of internal investigators. The outcome was rather bizarre. In the end, no one was held accountable.

As this account unfolds, you will see how these issues have caused a major weakness in the Sheriff’s Office. The problem with finding no one responsible is likely not unique to the Sheriff’s Office, although I had not experienced it in my eight years of military service or in my close work with other police and federal law enforcement entities.

During this period, I met Tom Bearup, whom I found interesting. He possessed a consummate sales type personality. This was an uncommon trait in the law enforcement environment. After Arpaio’s first election, but before he was sworn into office, I was spending a considerable amount of time in the evidence lab, copying crime scene photos and entering them into evidence.

One day, the Commander of the lab asked me to sit in on a meeting he was having with Tom Bearup and a volunteer posse member who owned a photography shop.

Bearup introduced himself and began a dissertation about how important he was. He had worked very closely with President Reagan and was on his advanced team. Bearup commented he was now assisting Arpaio with his transition team.

It turned out the Posse member with him was selling equipment from his photography shop. Bearup spoke highly of the equipment affirming it would greatly help the Office if purchased. Even though I was spending a numerous hours in securing copies of photos, I felt Bearup was trying to sell something. I was suspicious of the pitch.

After the meeting, the Commander told me the equipment was old and obsolete. He felt Bearup was selling a negative bill of goods on behalf of the Posse member. My suspicions were vindicated, and in future, I would have more interesting contacts with Bearup. After Arpaio was sworn into office, Bearup was hired as an Executive Officer. This position was created for Bearup. He was to directly assist the Sheriff.

My next encounter with Arpaio was at my promotion to sergeant in early 1993. This was long in coming. I had stayed on the list for a year because promotions weren’t being made. Frank Munnell, with whom I had previously worked in the jails, was promoted to sergeant in the same ceremony.

My first assignment as a sergeant, patrol, is where all newly promoted deputies start. These were the happiest days of my career. I had formerly thought detective work was the most rewarding but I changed my mind with my new duties.

I was contentedly working evening and night shifts in the Southwest Valley. Late one afternoon, a deputy on my squad stopped a vehicle. Shortly thereafter, I heard via police radio the vehicle he stopped had been involved in several robbery/murders. As it turned out, the three passengers in the vehicle were suspects in these crimes. Unbeknownst to the deputy who had stopped the vehicle for expired license plates, it was being covertly followed by officers of the Phoenix Police Department.

The deputies efficiently coordinated taking the suspects, who were heavily armed, into custody.

The next day my squad was summoned to headquarters. Upon our arrival, we met with Sergeant J. Ellison, a public information officer for MCSO. Ellison explained we were there for a press conference covering the previous day’s arrests. He stated the Sheriff would make opening remarks on the event and then entertain questions for the involved deputies, from the press.

I stayed in the back of the room behind the press. Arpaio entered and with the deputies now standing next to him, introduced them to the media and briefly spoke about the events. I was impressed with the presentation. I was proud the Sheriff was having a press conference for the deputies who had captured and arrested heavily armed and dangerous major offenders. It appeared credit was finally being given where it was due, without political motivation.

The Sheriff’s Office had a long history of avoiding the media. In fact, law enforcement in general, had this trait in common. The prevailing attitude was the media is a nuisance, but had to be tolerated. At that moment, our squad welcomed this refreshing change as it appeared to have been initiated on behalf of the good work these deputies had done.

After the reporters left the room, I thanked Arpaio for his public recognition of the deputies’ work. He gave me a very strange look -- which I have never forgotten -- and didn’t say a word. Next, I thanked Ellison for his work on this recognition. Ellison responded, This isn’t about the deputies. I asked what he meant. Ellison said this was about the Sheriff and it was merely a press opportunity. I didn’t really get it at the time, but soon I would learn.

As I was leaving the room, I was approached by my commander, Captain Bill Heath and patrol Chief Jedel Roe. Roe handed me some tapes and said the Sheriff wanted an investigation into the allegation the Phoenix Police had acted improperly and put our staff in danger. I was surprised as I had been present during the entire affair and didn’t see anything that would amount to a safety failure on the part of the Phoenix Police. I told Roe and Heath I didn’t understand, as I had seen the entire event. Roe said she knew that, however, she had told the Sheriff, Phoenix should have let the deputies know what was going on. Roe added, the Sheriff had ordered the investigation.

I thought I had previously quelled that controversy with the deputy involved. The deputy mentioned the situation to me. I explained to him, at the time, I had been briefed on the matter by a Phoenix Police supervisor as soon as the traffic stop was made. I had been informed Phoenix Police had a large surveillance team following the suspects as they left their residence. The reason they were following them was to complete a search warrant affidavit. As soon as they obtained the warrant, they were going to arrest the suspects.

The deputy, not experienced in investigative techniques, had difficulty understanding. The matter of not notifying the Sheriff’s Office of a jurisdictional entry was normal. As a mobile surveillance is initiated, it’s important to focus on suspect movement and coordinate surveillance officers. Sometimes it’s not practical to call each agency that might be intruded upon in advance. This is particularly true in a community like greater Phoenix, where there are over 30 law enforcement agencies and city boundaries are often not clearly marked. A suspect can easily cross several agency jurisdictions in a matter of minutes.

As directed, I continued listening to the tapes. It was clear, that as soon as the deputy stopped the suspect vehicle, a sergeant from Phoenix Police called Sheriff’s communications center and advised.He explained they had the scene surrounded with officers. Sheriff’s dispatch radioed the deputy and apprised him of whom he had stopped.

Owning this knowledge, I approached Captain Heath and related the facts concerning the traffic stop. Istated it need not go further. Heath agreed. He would brief the Chief.

I was perplexed at the Sheriff’s reaction to the opinion of the deputy involved. With all his years of law enforcement experience, should he not have reasoned the reality? Or was he hoping it was a problem? Later I came to know he is an aficionado of procuring controversy.

It was after this an explosive situation occurred involving Lieutenant Roy Ryer. Ryer wrote a memo accusing Deputy Chief Dave Hendershott of allowing criminals into the Posse. The memo containing the accusation landed in the hands of the media. Of course, the bombshell had a very wide impact. This was probably one of the first times someone in command, from any agency, openly made public remarks.

Interestingly, years later, Frank Munnell would do the same only with much more punch. The irony is, Munnell mentioned the incident in his memo, characterizing Ryer as the victim rather than the suspect. I’m not sure if Munnell was unaware of some of the facts in the issue or if he opted to tell the story his way.

Upon Ryer’s reassignment to patrol, I encountered him at District III headquarters. Ryer was obviously upset over his treatment. He told me he now understood how I felt during the Temple Murders investigation. The statement seemed out of touch, as management of the Temple case was a fiasco. I felt it inappropriate to reveal my feelings to him.

During the Temple investigation, Deputy Scoville and Sergeant Russ Kimball approached me about going to the media and denouncing our bosses. I told them I wouldn’t be involved because I was about to testify on the case and therefore, wasn’t able to talk about it. A quirk of fate was, both these individuals would leave the Office on the heels of internal investigations, having nothing to do with the Temple case.

Munnell overlooked a major part of this incident in his memo. I was working patrol and much of my time was spent in the small town of Wittman, which, at the time, was rife with crime. During this time, I saw Ryer frequent the home of a Posse member named Tim Gee. Gee was the unofficial Mayor of Wittman, according to his own self-aggrandizing. Ryer was open about his friendship with Gee and typically referred him to me reference issues in the town.

Gee worked for the water company that serviced Wittman. Late one afternoon, a call was dispatched of a violent family fight in progress at a residence there. Almost as soon as the call went out, Gee answered he was on scene.