Arizona police seized $200 million in personal property, but where did the money go? The audit said those expenditures effectively bypassed the county's purchasing procedures, which require various levels of approval. LAMBERT: Babeu says the federal government was refusing to allow Henry to both supervise federal funds in the Pinal County Sheriffs Office and run for sheriff. Forfeiture money paid for Voyles' personal security system, retirement contributions of employees in his office and fundraising for the Sheriff's Office, according to the lawsuit. During a July interview at a local caf here decked out in Old West paraphernalia, passersby interrupted to clasp hands heartily with him and chat. "It is truly puzzling why Captain Karns overreacted to an organizational change that has yet to take place, and I can only surmise that some other issue is in play that made him lash out," Gaffney says in his statement. ", Babeu: "You have crossed the line. Can we start calling you senator? the man asked. [31] On August 30, 2016, Babeu was declared the winner of the Republican primary. Lamb is at far right. (According to Vale, however, Lamb has not officially endorsed Lake or any other candidate in the race.). Please dont. When I asked Vale whether Lamb made a salary from the American Sheriff Network, he said Lamb was a partner of a Virginia LLC that produces the content but declined to give any other details. See also: Babeu's Suspicious Past as School's Headmaster Its not clear if the FBI has opened an official case. Out of five Pinal County supervisors, only one, Serdy, a Republican, would comment on the record about Lamb, telling me over the phone, As long as the job is being done, then we support [his other work]. Lamb argues his outside activities help him bring in new recruits. ABC15 has learned agents in the FBIs Phoenix Division have conducted interviews with several people in recent weeks to talk about so-called RICO funds used by the sheriffs office. In a written statement, he wrote "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 on anything more than a misdemeanor charge. (Asked about the report, Mack said CSPOA denounce[s] all racism and violence.), Mack said Lamb is not an official CSPOA member, but he clearly sees Lamb as one of his own. Records show Babeu spent more than $53,000 to send 25 people to a weeklong conference in St. Louis at which he received a national award. When reached Tuesday, a spokesman declined to comment. This 6-month-long detailed search led to the termination of Arpaio's top two deputies. Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu who became the face of Arizona border security nationally after he started stridently opposing illegal immigration threatened his Mexican ex-lover with. Lamb said he wants to release RICO funds quarterlyand that he will require recipients to submit a breakdown of expenses, which will be reviewed by a committee before a request is approved. 4:00AM. Two weeks before, in mid-June, the temperature was a newsworthy 110-plus degrees. He says DeRose demanded the passwords to Babeu's websites and social-media accounts. Congress. Former sheriffs Joe Arpaio and David Clarke, along with an estimated 138 currently serving sheriffs, are self-declared adherents of the philosophy, which evolved out of the white nationalist, anti-Semitic movement known as posse comitatus, meaning the power of the county. Lamb, although he spoke at a convention for constitutional sheriffs last year and says he appreciate[s] those guys standing up for the rule of law, the Constitution and freedom, doesnt call himself a constitutional sheriff. The FBI declined comment Wednesday. local news and culture, Stephen Lemons Babeu pulled out of the 2012 race in the middle of the debacle and set his sights lower, vying for - and winning - re-election as sheriff. You can actually effect change as the sheriff, he says. (In the two weeks after a police officer killed George Floyd in Minneapolis last year, some 10,000 protesters were arrested around the country, compared with about 600 Jan. 6 rioters so far.) What started with an online invitation from Babeu for the two to get together, he says, turned into not only a personal relationship but a professional one. But Orozco suspected Babeu was lying. In a speech, Lamb talked about issues with the vote and blamed the state and federal governments. Paul Babeu was the tenth of eleven children born into the family. local news and culture, Monica Alonzo Melissa Weiss-Riner, Orozco's attorney, confirms her client's account. Brandon Bell/Getty Images. Lamb, 49, has jurisdiction over only Arizona's third most populous county, a stretch of desert. (State records show, and Vale confirmed, that Lambs 2020 campaign provided a $10,000 loan to the group in August of last year.) Lamb won office the same year Sheriff Arpaio was defeated in Maricopa. On October 23, 2011, Babeu announced the formation of an exploratory committee to run for U.S. Congress in what would become Arizona's newly redrawn 4th congressional district. (Many job-safety rankings consider being a roofer more dangerous than being a police officer.). Babeu said Henry was left with three options: resign as chief deputy to run as a sheriff's candidate, withdraw his candidacy for sheriff or transfer to a non-leadership position within the sheriff . Ex-Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu hearts the shiny badge and spiffy uniform of his erstwhile office so much that he seems loath to relinquish it online. Lamb loves it. Join the New Times community and help support According to Babeu's website, "Pinal County is the number one pass through county in all of America for drug and human smuggling. [10] Babeu stated that he had never been the target of an investigation or lawsuit and "was recognized for helping restore financial stability of the school. Ive never had a desire to run for Senate or Congress, Lamb told me at the caf in Florence, before adding, Im a patriot at heart. The National Sheriffs Association, of which Lamb is a member, has a model code of ethics for sheriffs that prohibits using the office for private gain, among other things. The law requires prosecutors to get approval from county boards of supervisors before using RICO funds. He insists he doesnt have political ambitions beyond the sheriffs office, though. A group of kids gathered around Lambs truck for sheriff-branded stickers. Records showBabeu spent more than $53,000 to send 25 people to a weeklong conference in St. Louisat which he received a national award. "What we're focused on is making sure we're as transparent as possible," he said. Forfeiture money paid for Voyles' personal security system, retirement contributions of employees in his office and fundraising for the Sheriff's Office, according to the lawsuit. They exchanged more texts on September 6. Building off his social media popularity he has more than 300,000 Facebook followers, high for a sheriff and his desire to elevate law enforcement, this past May he announced the launch of the American Sheriff Network, which for $4.99 month allows viewers to watch 10- to 20-minute segments showing sheriffs and their deputies as they respond to calls for service a mix of sheriff propaganda and reality television. Burghart, the researcher of far-right movements, sees Protect America Now and the coalition it is building as a dangerous force, arguing the group represents the next step for the constitutional sheriff movement and its elevation of the power of sheriffs. And he still believes there was, as he put it to me, a significant amount of concerning information about the integrity of the election. Today its closer to 100, and a faint whisp of cloud floats in the sky, daring itself to cover the blazing sun. Sheriffs in almost every state operate independently with limited oversight, giving them the freedom to engage in political advocacy and appear in the media. Lamb said a recent major request involved $50,000 to pay for computer equipment that will allow investigators to download large amounts of data from cell phones, laptops and other electronic devices without inhibiting use. "If what [Babeu's attorney] says is correct [about Orozco's being illegal], either the sheriff had a long relationship with someone he knew was undocumented, while all the time being Mr. Bluster about the border and using it for political gain," or he threatened to deport someone he just broke up with, Merritt says. Through Protect America Now, which was founded by a Republican strategist and two businesspeople working with Lamb and counterparts nationwide, he is marshalling dozens of other elected sheriffs and citizen supporters around these ideas building an army as the group puts it. Lamb was a fixture on the show, as well as a host of a spinoff, Live PD: Wanted, which focused on catching fugitives. Wont work. [5], Babeu was awarded two Life Saving Medals in the performance of his duties as a patrolman in Chandler. Next door in Pinal County, Lamb embraced Arpaios anti-immigrant bent; before long he appeared, sure enough, on Fox News to talk about the border crisis (though Pinal County is not on the U.S.-Mexico border), and deployed officers and equipment to help federal authorities with immigration enforcement. Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu just won a primary for a competitive congressional seat in Arizona. He graduated from the Arizona Law Enforcement Academy as the #1 overall police recruit and was voted by his fellow officers as the class exemplary officer. Doug Barrett for POLITICO. Were going to find out who is willing to die for freedom. He also makes direct appeals to citizens, an effort that looks more dangerous after former President Donald Trump riled up supporters on Jan. 6. (FAIR has dismissed the characterization, calling the SPLC a partisan attack dog.) Earlier this summer, Lamb gathered some two dozen other sheriffs for a Protect America Now rally along the border in Arizona, where he declared, We are standing up for the Constitution, our oath and the rights of the people.. February 2, 2017 Another man walking by said, The sheriff is a good dude. Everyone gathered for a picture, just one more. Sheriff Paul Babeu, President of the Arizona Sheriff's Association and the National Sheriff of the Year, is Arizona's youngest Sheriff and leads the third largest Sheriff's Office in the state with 700 full-time employees. Visit his site and learn more today! He said the county has implemented a new system of checks and balances that require multiple levels of approval, explanations of how recipients intend to use moneyand receipts documenting expenses. He started his service as a private and rose through the ranks to major in the Arizona Army National Guard. He became the Republican nominee for Arizona's 1st congressional district in the 2016 elections after winning the primary on August 30, 2016. Robert Tsai, a constitutional law professor at Boston University, told me he sees Protect America Now as political in nature an effort to leverage sheriffs in mainstream Republican politics, while also branding [sheriffs] for future political careers. Lamb says Protect America Now is not a political organization, but that its efforts are viewed as political sometimes. Yet Protect America Now, a 501(c)4, was founded in June 2020 by a group that includes Nathan Sproul, an Arizona-based Republican strategist. He faced Democrat Tom O'Halleran in the general election. The trailer for the new network features lots of shots of Lamb, his profile against a desert sunset as the camera pans slowly over the shadows of cacti. Now, with the public's memory of the scandal fading. Typically, county employees have the right to appeal any discipline they receive to the Pinal County Merit System Commission, a five-member board that can uphold, modify, or overturn county officials' decisions. Keating says her JP sibling had been living at the house Babeu is selling until recently, perhaps renting from the. A notice of claim -- a precursor to a lawsuit -- usually is filled with enough details to establish the basis for a lawsuit, and probably would reveal details about this fresh rift between Karns and Babeu, seemingly one-time allies. The terms were not disclosed. Lamb says the network takes its inspiration from Live PD, an A&E show that ran from 2016 until 2020, when it was canceled after deputies in Williamson County, Texas, were caught on camera tasing a man named Javier Ambler, and ultimately killing him. private school led by Babeu", "Massachusetts Office of Child Care Services vs DeSisto School Inc and A. Michael Desisto", "Documents: Babeu ran private boarding school with history of physical abuse", "Pinal County 2008 General Election Results", "Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu Elected to Second Term as President of Arizona Sheriff's Association", "Paul Babeu named 2011 Sheriff of the Year", "Senators McCain and Kyl Announce Border Security Plan", "Joe Arpaio aide investigation finished by Babeu", "Pinal Sheriff's Office stockpiles, prepares to sell military equipment", "Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission", "Paul Babeu's Mexican Ex-Lover Says Sheriff's Attorney Threatened Him With Deportation (, "Babeu bombshell: Gay relationship & deportation threats, report says", "Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu Angrily Denies Ex-Boyfriend's Accusations", "Will recent allegations damage Babeu's political future? See also: Babeu's Mexican Ex-Lover Says Sheriff's Attorney Threatened Him With Deportation The council reduced the pay hike and Babeu, running as an independent, turned his effort into a successful campaign and was elected to City Council at the age of 18. Get the latest updates in news, food, music and culture, and receive special offers direct to your inbox. Sheriff Paul Babeu is the Sheriff of Pinal County in Arizona. Lambs first law enforcement job was with the Salt River Police Department in neighboring Maricopa County beginning in 2006. | [14] Babeu was reelected in 2012 with 53.3% of the votes, winning out over Democrat and independent candidates. Get the latest updates in news, food, music and culture, and receive special offers direct to your inbox. Babeu was born on February 3, 1969, in North Adams, Massachusetts, to Raymond and Helen Babeu. The Pinal County Sheriff's Office website, which still lists Karns as leader of the Sheriff's Office Patrol Division, says of the captain: Although the board hasn't considered the matter, Karns' e-mail states that a member of Babeu's "executive staff relayed the message" to him that once he became an at-will employee, he would face termination.

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