Anti-Immigrant Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Office Accused of Aiding Drug, Human Smuggling Ring

Joe Arpaio, the virulently anti-immigrant sheriff from Maricopa County Arizona has long been under suspicion of corruption by both federal and state governments. Now it turns out that members of his office were actually helping human and drug smugglers in illegal activities in Maricopa country.

JJ Hensley of the Arizona Republic has the full story here:

Three Maricopa County sheriff's employees, including a deputy in the human-smuggling unit, were arrested Tuesday by authorities who say they were involved in a drug- and human-trafficking ring and used Sheriff's Office intelligence to guide smugglers through the Valley.

On top of this reports have been surfacing for some time that the Maricopa Sheriffs office was under investigation for corruption and civil rights violations. Now details of the corruption case are starting to leak into the press and they are not pretty...

JJ Hensley and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez of the Arizona Republic have the full story here:

Time and again, in public statements and in interviews, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has denied knowledge of the corruption and mismanagement within his headquarters. But information in thousands of pages of recently released public records refutes some of Arpaio's claims and, in some instances, places him in the middle of key controversial events.

Essentially these records paint a pretty terrible picture, which puts Sheriff Joe at the center of a very corrupt department. For example:

• One detective told investigators that Arpaio participated in drafting a search warrant for a failed corruption investigation.

• The sheriff's former chief financial officer said she warned Arpaio of overtime excesses and other financial problems, as well as former Chief Deputy David Hendershott's "demoralizing" mistreatment of subordinates.

• Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk recounted to state investigators Arpaio's response in September 2009 when she asked why the Sheriff's Office arrested Maricopa County Supervisor Don Stapley after she had told them the case was not ready to charge. "Arpaio blows up: I had PC (probable cause) to arrest, no one tells me who I can/cannot arrest," Polk said.

These documents clearly show that the Sheriff knew what was occurring in his office, a video report on the human trafficking elements can be seen below: