PHOENIX — A federal judge on Friday referred Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his second-in-command for criminal prosecution, finding that they ignored and misrepresented to subordinates court orders designed to keep the sheriff’s office from racially profiling Latinos.
In making the referral to the United States attorney’s office for criminal contempt charges, Judge G. Murray Snow of Federal District Court in Phoenix delivered the sharpest rebuke against Mr. Arpaio, who as the long-serving sheriff in Maricopa County made a name for himself as an unrelenting pursuer of undocumented immigrants.
Sheriff Arpaio and Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan “have a history of obfuscation and subversion of this court’s orders that is as old as this case,” Judge Snow wrote in his order.
Sheriff Arpaio and Mr. Sheridan had also made numerous false statements under oath, Judge Snow wrote, and “there is also probable cause to believe that many if not all of the statements were made in an attempt to obstruct any inquiry into their further wrongdoing or negligence.”
The referral does not mean the sheriff will face criminal charges; it is up to federal prosecutors to decide whether to pursue the case. Still, if the prosecutors do not take the case, the judge could appoint a special prosecutor.
“A criminal prosecution of Sheriff Arpaio is the right next step for justice to be done,” Cecillia Wang, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, one of the groups that filed the lawsuit resulting in the court orders, said in a statement. “When a federal court finds that a law enforcement official has lied to the court in an effort to cover up misconduct, and willfully flouted court orders, that official must be held to account.”
Judge Snow’s referral also extends to Capt. Steve R. Bailey, who was in charge of internal affairs investigations in the sheriff’s office, and Michele M. Iafrate, a lawyer for Sheriff Arpaio’s. They were both accused of withholding information from a court-appointed monitor about the existence of 1,459 IDs seized in law enforcement operations.
Ultimately, though, Judge Snow laid the blame squarely on Sheriff Arpaio. “The court,” he wrote, “has reminded Sheriff Arpaio that he is the party to the lawsuit, not his subordinates, and thus the failure of his subordinates to carry out this court’s orders would amount to his own failure to do so.”
In his decision, Judge Snow removed several of Sheriff Arpaio’s powers, including his ability to oversee internal affairs investigations. The judge had already found that Sheriff Arpaio and his deputies had mishandled and manipulated such investigations, in part to obscure wrongdoing or neglect by deputies.
The lawsuit has already cost taxpayers more than $50 million in legal fees and contributed to Arizona’s reputation for bias against immigrants.
Gov. Doug Ducey has worked to redefine the state’s relationship to Mexico, bruised by the immigration law signed by his predecessor that empowered the police to ask about the legal status of anyone whom they suspected of being in the country illegally. Sheriff Arpaio, meanwhile, has remained a loyal ally of Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, amplifying his calls for a wall along the Southern border, paid for by Mexico.
Sheriff Arpaio has alternated between meek and defiant in and outside court, openly criticizing Judge Snow to reporters and often characterizing the racial profiling case against him as a political vendetta by the Obama administration.
“The truth will come out,” he said in a recent interview from Tent City here, where inmates are housed in recommissioned Korean War tents, exposed to this city’s torrid summer heat.
The case was filed in 2007 on behalf of Latino drivers who claimed they had been systematically targeted by sheriff’s deputies during traffic stops and immigration patrols. Judge Snow agreed, ordering changes in training and procedures, including a requirement that officers relay by radio the reason for each stop before approaching a driver.
But in May, the judge found Sheriff Arpaio and his top deputies in contempt of court, saying that they had “engaged in multiple acts of misconduct, dishonesty and bad faith” and “demonstrated a persistent disregard for the orders of the court.” His decision to ask the United States attorney’s office to bring criminal charges came despite Sheriff Arpaio’s apologies and pleas by one of his lawyers, Mel McDonald, last month in court.
