Chris Nanos, who was appointed by the county Board of Supervisors in July 2015 to complete the term of Clarence Dupnik, is seeking his first full term as Sheriff. Mark Napier, who ran against Dupnik in 2012, is challenging Nanos.
Meet the candidate
Chris Nanos was appointed Sheriff by the county Board of Supervisors in July 2015, to complete Clarence Dupnik's term.
He began his career in law enforcement in 1976 at the El Paso Police Department and joined the Pima County Sheriff's Department in 1984 as a corrections officer.
During his time with PCSD, Nanos has worked in all four bureaus and held command positions in patrol, internal affairs, homeland security, and criminal investigations.
Meet the candidate
Napier began his law enforcement career in Iowa before spending 21 years at the ĂŰčÖÖ±˛Ą Police Department, rising to the rank of captain before his retirement in 2008. He is now associate director of operations for the University of ĂŰčÖÖ±˛Ąâ€™s Parking and Transportation Services and lead facilitator for Boston University Metropolitan College's online master's program in criminal justice.
He earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Park University in Missouri and a master's degree in criminal justice from Boston University.
Sheriff Chris Nanos requested more than $200,000 in transfers to a department bank account that’s been the focus of an FBI investigation into misuse of seized funds, newly released documents show.
Last month, the Pima County Sheriff Department’s then second-in-command, Chris Radtke, was indicted on seven felony charges, including conspiracy to commit money laundering and theft of federal funds, according to the Sept. 28 federal indictment. He has since resigned from the department.
FBI investigators say that from January 2011 through February 2016, Radtke and others “conspired to circumvent the restrictions on the use of forfeiture funds” intended for the Sheriff’s Auxiliary Volunteers, spending roughly $500,000 on items not related to crime fighting or prevention.
Between February 2015 and January 2016, Nanos submitted departmental requests for nearly $220,000 in transfers to the volunteers fund, according to Pima County Attorney’s Office documents recently obtained by the Star through a public-records request.
“It is my understanding the FBI investigation is near completion, but until then, I am unable to comment,” Nanos wrote in an email Tuesday.
The Star has requested, but not received, records detailing how the funds were spent.
After announcing Radtke’s indictment and resignation in a news release Oct. 10, Nanos has said that he’d ordered a review of the department’s financial practices.
“In regards to RICO money expenditures, there is a stringent process in place with independent review from an outside agency,” Nanos said in the news release, days before announcing the review. “There is also an audit on the back end of all expenditures and we will continue to review all processes to make sure checks and balances are working appropriately.”
RICO funds come from money seized during criminal investigations under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The forfeited funds are distributed to law enforcement agencies to use for enforcement-related activities, and all requests must go through the County Attorney’s Office for approval.
By definition, the sheriff’s auxiliary volunteers meet the requirement. According to the description in the funding request, the volunteers support residents of unincorporated Pima County by performing “numerous functions vital to the overall mission of the Sheriff’s Department.”
Examples of their services listed on the request include patrol, neighborhood watch, conducting traffic control at accidents and crime scenes, performing home security checks, providing fingerprinting services for employment and administrative support duties.
Funding requests show that from August 2010 through January 2016, the Sheriff’s Department received $677,000 in RICO funds, approved for transfer from the Pima County Anti-Racketeering Fund to the auxiliary volunteers account.
No line-item descriptions were included in the request, simply the explanation of the volunteers’ duties.
Nanos submitted three of the funding requests during his time as deputy chief and sheriff. He was appointed by the board of supervisors last July to finish the term of longtime Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, who retired last year.
The first request Nanos made was for $27,200 in February 2015. In July of that year he submitted a second request for $150,000, and in late January, Radtke initialed Nanos’ request for $42,200.
The FBI’s investigation into the Sheriff’s Department began after an October 2015 article in the Star about Radtke’s niece operating cafes out of headquarters and the county jail, without a contract and rent-free.
A public-records request showed that the department spent more than $30,000 on equipment and renovations for the spaces, which they initially said were paid for with RICO funds, but later said came out of the department’s general fund.
The indictment includes multiple allegations of conspiracy, several relating to cafe purchases, including nearly $2,000 for custom-designed chalkboards that were used as menu boards in Nikki Thompson’s two cafe locations.
The indictment said Radtke and persons “known and unknown to the grand jury” purposely misled the County Attorney’s Office when requesting funds. As of Friday, no one else has been charged in the case.
Radtke, who is represented by attorney Sean Chapman, has until Nov. 4 to enter a plea agreement, before proceeding to trial Nov. 22.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos fired back Wednesday at critics and promised a full review of the department’s financial practices.
His chief deputy, Chris Radtke, resigned Monday, following a federal indictment charging him with misuse of funds seized during criminal investigations and given to law enforcement agencies for crime-fighting activities.
Nanos previously said he’s not a target of the FBI investigation that led to Radtke’s indictment, but declined to speak about the investigation or the indictment during a news conference he held Wednesday.
“I want to offer explanations, not excuses,” Nanos said, reading from a two-page script. When sworn in as sheriff, “I made a promise to myself and to members of the board, but more importantly to the community that we serve, that they will have our trust.”
Nanos said that because of the allegations of misspending, he’s asked for a comprehensive review of all financial policies and practices within the department.
“I will be meeting with each and every one of my command staff within the organization and will take the time necessary to explain to them the extent I understand and am able to disclose and how and why certain events came to be,” said Nanos. “Perhaps mistakes were made. I’m simply a cop, not a politician.”
During the second part of the news conference, Nanos blasted his critics, including longtime department member Dr. Richard Carmona, who held a news conference of his own last week to allege what he called “reprehensible” behavior by Nanos and his command staff.
Echoing Carmona’s words, Nanos said he believed it necessary to address the “reprehensible” allegations against him because recent events had “shaken this organization to its core.”
He asked journalists who were present to not attend any other press conferences held by Carmona or by the Pima County Deputy Sheriffs Association, which announced a vote of “no confidence” in Nanos in late September.
Nanos also complained about local media coverage of the FBI investigation, saying that specific outlets have been unfair in their coverage, but praising others for using discretion in their reporting. He accused one outlet of propagating Carmona’s “blatant lies.”
He declined to answer any questions at the end, saying “I’m a politician now,” in reference to a Wednesday column by the Star’s Tim Steller, in which Nanos said he wasn’t a politician.
Nanos was appointed sheriff by the county Board of Supervisors in July 2015 to complete the final term of longtime sheriff Clarence Dupnik. Nanos, a Democrat, is running to be elected sheriff in November, and is being challenged by Republican Mark Napier.
In five weeks, voters will decide the winner in what’s quickly become a heated race for Pima County Sheriff, but they won’t have the opportunity to hear the candidates debate the issues.
Current Sheriff Chris Nanos, a Democrat, told the ĂŰčÖÖ±˛Ą in September that he won’t be participating in any public debates with his Republican challenger, Mark Napier.
“I don’t have time for that,” Nanos said, explaining his decision. “It doesn’t do any good to argue with Mark.”
Nanos, who was appointed by the county Board of Supervisors in July 2015 to complete the term of Clarence Dupnik, is seeking his first full term as Sheriff.
Napier ran against Dupnik in 2012, earning 46 percent of the vote to Dupnik’s 51.
Over the past month, Napier’s campaign has sought to shine light on issues Sheriff department employees have brought to his attention, including complaints of retaliation against employees who don’t support his candidacy.
“I understand all the fears, but no one is being punished,” Nanos said.
With nearly 70 years of law enforcement experience between the two candidates, each man believes he has what it takes to best serve the citizens of Pima County.
Nanos says he’s done the job well, citing his active involvement in the community, the return of the school resource officer program and his negotiation of a raise for many employees who had fallen behind on the pay scale.
“Our deputies and sergeants just received a five to 20 percent raise,” he said. “For the first time ever, our new-hire deputies make more money per hour than ĂŰčÖÖ±˛Ą Police Department’s (new officers).”
Napier said that during his 21 years with ĂŰčÖÖ±˛Ą Police Department, he has the leadership skills to bring the department back together.
“As a patrol division commander at TPD I personally met with every officer in my division receiving discipline, no matter how minor. The purpose was not to berate the officer, but rather to affirm the importance of the disciplinary process and convey expectations for future performance,” he said. “Positive interest in discipline and genuine interest in the officer coming from my level helped make discipline more effective. It also served to enhance my relationship with line-level personnel.”
Nanos has been dealing with the overpopulation of Pima County jail since he was named sheriff, at which point the jail was at full capacity. If elected, he says he plans to work closely with local agencies that deal with mental health and substance abuse issues in order to keep the affected individuals out of jail and get them into appropriate treatment programs.
He’s also hoping to reduce costs by using electronic monitoring for low-level offenders, and looking into the structure of how bond amounts are set.
“If a crime is so low-level that the person is not a danger, shouldn’t that play into the conditions of release?” Nanos said. “A person shouldn’t have to sit in jail because they can’t pay $50.”
One of Napier’s goals if elected would be to work closely with TPD Chief Chris Magnus to develop ideas for cross-jurisdictional collaboration and information sharing between the two agencies, of which he says the senior administration have had a strained relationship for decades.
“I would like to centralize a Street Squad (within the Sheriff’s department) consisting of a sergeant and 4 to 5 deputies to proactively address crime and quality of life issues across the county,” he said.
The Pima County Deputy Sheriff Association and the Pima County Corrections Officers Association voted last week to endorse Napier. Nanos received the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police, Pima Lodge 20.
The general election is on Nov. 8, with early voting beginning on Oct. 12.
A former sheriff’s department official criticized Sheriff Chris Nanos on Thursday, citing what he called “reprehensible behavior.”
Dr. Richard Carmona, former U.S. Surgeon General and a 30-year veteran of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, spoke to a crowd of roughly 70 people at a news conference, addressing issues he said have been brought to his attention by department employees.
“This isn’t political,” he said. “Every citizen should know what’s going on in the department when they vote.”
Standing behind Carmona at the podium were 15 members of the Pima County Deputy Sheriff’s Association, who he said were there to take a stand against Nanos’ leadership.
Carmona noted that several of the employees had been demoted as a result of their standing up to Nanos.
Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry denied that claim Thursday, saying that no deputies, sergeants or detectives had been demoted since Nanos was appointed Sheriff.
“All of these employees have followed department policy regarding complaints, but they didn’t realize that the change in command (when Nanos took over) changed the complaint process” Carmona said.
The grievance system allows the agency's "appointing authority", in this case the Sheriff, to uphold or deny grievances filed against any employee — including himself. The employee then has the option to forward the grievance to the County Administrator for review.
Carmona said the retaliatory actions being taken by Nanos and his allies in the department have made many employees afraid to come forward with complaints, and instead they’ve called him to express their displeasure.
During the hour-long news conference, Carmona discussed several previously reported issues in the department, including the use of RICO funds — which come from drug seizures and are supposed to be used for crime fighting — to open a cafe in the sheriff’s headquarters.
The Star previously reported the FBI began an investigation in response to a 2015 newspaper article about the cafe, which was operated by the niece of Chief Deputy Christopher Radtke. “We’re grateful that the FBI stepped in and saw enough probable cause to start an investigation,” Carmona said.
The Pima County Deputy Sheriff’s Association and Pima County Corrections Officers Association voted last week to endorse Nanos’ Republican opponent, Mark Napier, in what Carmona called an unprecedented move. The ĂŰčÖÖ±˛Ą Police Officer’s Association previously voted to endorse Napier.
Carmona was listed on the department’s organizational chart as “sheriff’s surgeon” until recently, when his name was removed from the website. He’s still under contract with the department, but hasn’t been to headquarters since January, and has said he doesn’t intend to return if Nanos is elected. In late September, Nanos told the Star he eliminated the position because he didn’t need one and informed Carmona that he won’t be renewing his contract, which ends Nov. 19.
In response to Carmona’s claims, he asked what factual basis there was. “This is all rumor and innuendo,” Nanos said.
A letter written by former Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, whose retirement opened the way for Nanos to be appointed sheriff, was distributed to reporters before the news conference. Dupnik criticized Carmona for his “tireless campaign” of “unfounded and inaccurate claims of cronyism and fraud.”
Carmona previously told the Star that while he intends to vote for Napier, he hasn’t decided whether he’ll formally endorse his candidacy before the Nov. 8 election.
It used to be that if the League of Women Voters or the local TV station called up to schedule a debate, candidates found a way to put it on their calendars.
They could quibble about details of date, time and location, but in general, they debated.
That was part of being a candidate — opening oneself up to personal public scrutiny and even questions directly from the public or an opponent. Not always comfortable, but it usually was informative for the voters whom the candidates are, after all, asking for their votes.
No longer. Now candidates are treating debates as optional.
Perhaps the most prominent example this fall: The race for Pima County sheriff.
Republican challenger Mark Napier has said he’s willing to debate wherever, whenever. The Democratic incumbent sheriff, Chris Nanos? Not so much.
Nanos went back and forth in deciding whether to attend a candidate forum scheduled for this Saturday and sponsored by the Green Valley ĂŰčÖÖ±˛Ą, editor Dan Shearer reported.
“Nanos’ campaign seemed a bit surprised at the request but said yes over the phone. Then they said no.”
“Then yes. Then no again.”
After another yes, the final answer was no, he reported.
There are explanations, of course. Nanos and Napier had an ugly discussion at the Star’s editorial board meeting, one Nanos told me he doesn’t want to repeat.
And Nanos disliked that Napier criticized him publicly for not debating, labeling him an “appointed” sheriff in a disparaging way (though of course that’s what Nanos is, having been appointed by the Pima County supervisors in 2014).
But this isn’t just about Nanos and Napier. Increasingly, it seems, candidates are opting out of debates.
“When I came here in 1988, it was just assumed that everybody would do debates,” radio host and longtime public-television anchor Bill Buckmaster told me Tuesday. “On ĂŰčÖÖ±˛Ą Illustrated, we invited all the major candidates. It was highly unusual for anybody to skip it. If anybody did skip, it became a big story.”
These days, incumbents, especially, tend to see more risk than reward in exposing themselves to the uncertainty and onstage equality of a person-to-person debate. It lowers the incumbent’s profile to the level of the challenger.
Incumbent Pima County Supervisor Ally Miller, a Republican, is refusing to acknowledge Democratic challenger Brian Bickel or any of the usual local interviews — Star editorial board, ĂŰčÖÖ±˛Ą Public Media’s Metro Week, etc.
But then there are challengers who also, somewhat inexplicably, take this tack. Ana Henderson, the Republican challenging for a state House seat in Legislative District 9, declined to show up for the Star’s editorial board or for a candidate forum on Sunday, sponsored by the Pima County Interfaith Council.
Henderson, and her Democratic opponents, Pamela Powers Hannley and Rep. Randy Friese, are scheduled to appear at the ĂŰčÖÖ±˛Ą Citizens Clean Elections Commission debate at 6 p.m. Oct. 14 at Pima Community College’s northwest campus, 7600 N. Shannon Road. Henderson and Powers Hannley have to, because they are taking public money for their campaigns through the clean-elections system.
Publicly funded candidates face a $500 fine if they don’t show up for their clean elections debate. It’s not a huge deterrent, but the vast majority do show up.
In fact, the clean elections debates have become a sort of backstop event, even though only 37 of 144 legislative and ĂŰčÖÖ±˛Ą Corporation Commission candidates are taking part in the system and obligated to appear. If no other debate gets put together in those races, at least the clean-elections one does.
That doesn’t help for the higher- or lower-level offices, though.
So far, no local debate is scheduled between the candidates for U.S. House in Congressional District 2, which covers the eastern ĂŰčÖÖ±˛Ą area and much of the rest of southeastern ĂŰčÖÖ±˛Ą. Republican incumbent Rep. Martha McSally will face Democratic challenger Matt Heinz Oct. 12 at Buena High School in Sierra Vista.
But a debate scheduled for Vail Wednesday has been postponed and not rescheduled because Heinz said he could not attend. Organizers are looking for a new time. Heinz, on the other hand, did attend Sunday’s candidate forum, but was not permitted to speak because McSally had said she would not attend.
The timing issue reveals another pressure causing debates to diminish: early ballots. The fact that voters get their ballots by mid-October means organizers have about three weeks less time to put on their event. The longer you wait after voters get their ballots, the fewer people who will be paying attention.
I don’t expect the trend to reverse, though. Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall, a Democrat, avoided debates with challenger Joel Feinman in the primary season, although they did appear at a couple of candidate forums. She won the primary handily.
In 2014, ĂŰčÖÖ±˛Ą Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas, a Republican, avoided all but one of a half-dozen possible debates with Democrat David Garcia. She won anyway.
The only encouraging counterpoint to the trend is the race for ĂŰčÖÖ±˛Ą Unified School District board. There had already been three debates before Tuesday night, when a fourth occurred.
To encourage that trend, the best thing we can do is to vote for the people who show up, make themselves available and, yes, vulnerable to the risk of a debate. The exchange that happens there keeps our system vital.
The Sheriff’s Department’s former second-in-command pleaded not guilty in federal court Friday to charges related to money laundering and embezzlement of roughly $500,000 in public funds.
Chris Radtke, who officially resigned Friday as chief deputy of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, was indicted Sept. 28 on seven charges for allegedly misusing federal funds that were meant to be used for crime fighting and prevention purposes.
The conspiracy charge indicates other parties were involved, and the indictment mentions other persons “known and unknown to the Grand Jury”, but as of Friday no one else had been charged.
Accompanied by his attorney, Sean Chapman, Radtke was processed and booked prior to his hearing and released on his own recognizance by federal Judge D. Thomas Ferraro.
Sitting next to Radtke in court was Joe Decormis, a former sheriff’s lieutenant who resigned last December.
On Monday, Sheriff Chris Nanos sent out a news release saying that Radtke had been indicted and subsequently resigned from the department.
However, Radtke’s Oct. 13 letter to the department stated his resignation was effective Friday — four days after Nanos said Radtke had stepped down.
“That’s because he submitted it to me verbally on Monday and he came in to clear his office and submit it in writing yesterday,” Nanos wrote in a text.
On Wednesday, Nanos said that because the indictment had “shaken the department to its core,” he has ordered a comprehensive review of the department’s financial policies and procedures.
The indictment is linked to a situation first reported by the Star last November about Radtke’s niece taking over a cafe inside the department’s headquarters in 2012.
Officials initially said the $30,000 in equipment was paid for with funds seized during investigations under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Later, they said the money came from the county’s general fund.
The indictment said that from 2011 to 2016, Radtke and others misrepresented to the Pima County Attorney’s Office their use of forfeiture funds.
Radtke is scheduled to appear in court again Nov. 22 before U.S. District Court Judge James Soto.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department’s former second-in-command is facing seven federal charges including theft of nearly $500,000 in federal funds and conspiracy to launder money, newly released court documents show.
The Sept. 28 grand jury indictment, released Wednesday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, alleges that between 2011 and 2016, Christopher M. Radtke embezzled, stole or fraudulently obtained at least $500,000 of forfeiture money from the Sheriff’s Auxiliary Volunteers fund.
The Sheriff’s Department claimed it was donating forfeiture funds to the auxiliary volunteers fund, but the department itself was using the money, the indictment says. “This laundering of the forfeiture funds enabled the Sheriff’s Office to use the money free from regulations relating to forfeiture funds and procurement,” it says.
Radtke, who resigned Monday as chief deputy, could not be reached for comment, and it wasn’t immediately known if he has an attorney.
Public records previously obtained by the Star showed that between January 2010 and October 2015, the Sheriff’s Department transferred nearly $720,000 in forfeiture funds into the auxiliary volunteers fund.
Radtke was indicted after a months-long FBI investigation, which began after the Star reported that his niece, Nikki Thompson, took over a cafe inside the Sheriff’s Department’s headquarters in 2011.
Thompson was operating cafes inside headquarters and the Pima County Adult Detention Center without a county contract, and the department spent more than $30,000 in renovations and improvement to the locations, the Star reported in November 2015.
The indictment includes multiple allegations of conspiracy, several relating to cafe purchases, including nearly $2,000 for custom-designed chalkboards that were used as menu boards in Thompson’s two cafe locations.
Other allegations include:
The six theft-related charges range in date from August 2011 through Feb. 15 2016, days after the Star reported that the FBI was investigating alleged department misuse of public funds.
“In regards to RICO money expenditures, there is a stringent process in place with independent review from an outside agency,” Sheriff Chris Nanos said in a statement Monday night, in which he announced Radtke’s resignation and indictment.
The forfeiture funds come from money seized under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO.
Nanos declined to comment on Radtke or the FBI investigation during a news conference Wednesday.
Nanos previously told the Star that the FBI had cleared him in the investigation and that he has not been formally interviewed.
An agency spokesman said Tuesday that the FBI does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations.
The chief deputy at the Pima County Sheriff’s Department has resigned after being indicted in connection with allegations of misusing anti-racketeering funds.
Chris Radtke resigned from the second-highest post in the department, Sheriff Chris Nanos announced in a written statement issued shortly after 10 p.m. Monday.
“Earlier today I was informed by my Chief Deputy, Chris Radtke, that he had been indicted for the misuse of RICO funds. Chris Radtke has since submitted his resignation and I will not comment on another law enforcement agency’s investigation,” Nanos said in his statement.
Funds seized from criminals under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly called RICO, are given to law enforcement agencies for enforcement-related activities.
The indictment is linked to a situation first reported by the Star last November about Radtke’s niece taking over the operation of a cafe inside the department’s headquarters in 2012. The department spent more than $10,000 on equipment for the space and allowed Radtke’s niece to run her restaurant rent-free and without a county contract.
Officials initially said the equipment was paid for with RICO funds. Later they said the money came from the county’s general fund.
The county spent more than $30,000 on equipment for the cafe as well as a similar eatery his niece, Nikki Thompson, opened in 2014 inside the Pima County jail, public records showed.
It was not immediately clear Tuesday what specific charges Radtke faces.
The case is to be handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Salt Lake City because the office in ĂŰčÖÖ±˛Ą “has been recused” from the case, said agency spokesman Cosme Lopez. The reason for the recusal was not explained and calls to the Salt Lake City office were not returned Tuesday.
“In regards to RICO money expenditures, there is a stringent process in place with independent review from an outside agency,” Nanos said in his statement Monday night. “There is also an audit on the backend of all expenditures and we will continue to review all processes to make sure checks and balances are working appropriately.”
Nanos was appointed sheriff by the Pima County Board of Supervisors in July 2015 to complete the term of Clarence Dupnik. Nanos is running to be elected sheriff in November.
The Star reported in February that the FBI was investigating Nanos, Radtke and former Chief of Staff Brad Gagnepain following the Star’s report about the cafe. Gagnepain committed suicide earlier this year.
When contacted for comment at the time, Nanos said that he hadn’t been approached by the FBI and that an investigation would be a waste of taxpayer money.
During the past several months, the FBI investigation has been a focus of criticism of Nanos by political rivals.
The investigation was discussed at a news conference last week by Dr. Richard Carmona, who leveled several criticisms of Nanos, citing what he called “reprehensible behavior.” He said many department employees — including himself — had been interviewed by the FBI.
When asked about the investigation in late September, Nanos told the Star that he still hadn’t been formally interviewed by the FBI. He did, however, say he had spoken to an FBI agent, who told Nanos he was “in the clear.”
The FBI does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations, said Andrew Black, assistant special agent in charge of the ĂŰčÖÖ±˛Ą office.
The Sheriff’s Department spent more than $7 million in RICO money from January 2010 through October 2015, a public records request revealed.
In a meeting with the Star’s editorial board in September, Nanos said that he spent about $300,000 in RICO funds this past year to “help kids get through high school,” by donating to nonprofit groups like Youth on Their Own and the Boys and Girls Club.
The department’s spending of RICO funds ranged greatly and included two planes, several police dogs, payments to confidential informants, funding for Sheriff’s Auxiliary Volunteer units and donations to dozens of local nonprofits, including $10,000 each to the ĂŰčÖÖ±˛Ą ĂŰčÖÖ±˛Ą Boys Chorus and the Southern ĂŰčÖÖ±˛Ą Lacrosse Academy.
While all RICO purchases must be approved by the Pima County Attorney’s Office, the forms submitted by the Sheriff’s Department do not provide line-item descriptions for the money requested, but rather a total dollar amount and generic “purpose of request.”
“It’s disappointing that after months and months of denials and attacks by Nanos, that we now find out the concerns about corruption in the department have a factual basis,” said Mark Napier, the Republican candidate for sheriff who is challenging Nanos.
Pima County Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Chris Radtke has been brought up on federal charges related to the mismanagement of public funds, authorities said Monday night.
The Star reported last November that when Radtke's niece took over operations of a café inside Sheriff's headquarters in 2012, the department spent more than $10,000 on equipment for the space, and allowed her to run her restaurant rent-free and without a county contract.
Officials initially said the equipment was paid for with RICO funds, which is money seized from criminals and given to law enforcement agencies, but they later said the money came from the general fund.
A public records request showed that the county ended up spending more than $30,000 on equipment for the café in headquarters and the second location that owner Nikki Thompson opened in 2014 inside of the Pima County Adult Detention Center.
It's unclear what specific charges Radtke is facing, but he submitted his resignation to the sheriff's department on Monday.
In a news release sent late Monday night, Sheriff Chris Nanos said he wouldn't be commenting on another agency's investigation.
"In regards to RICO money expenditures, there is a stringent process in place with independent review from an outside agency," Nanos said. "There is also an audit on the backend of all expenditures and we will continue to review all processes to make sure checks and balances are working appropriately."
In February, the Star reported that the FBI was investigating Nanos, Radtke and former Chief of Staff Brad Gagnepain, who later committed suicide, in connection with the newspaper article about the cafe.
When contacted for comment at the time, Nanos became upset, and said that he hadn't been approached by the FBI, but an investigation would be a waste of taxpayer money.
Nanos was appointed Sheriff by the Board of Supervisors in July 2015 to complete the term of Clarence Dupnik and is seeking his first full term as Sheriff in the November 8 election.
During the past several months, the FBI investigation has been the focus of Nanos' political challengers campaigns against him, and was also discussed in a news conference held by Dr. Richard Carmona last week, during which he said many department employees- including himself- had been interviewed.
When asked about the investigation in late September, Nanos told the Star that he hadn't been formally interviewed by the FBI, but he had spoken to an agent, who told him he was "in the clear."
The appointment of Chris Nanos as Pima County sheriff in July 2015 followed a time-honored process.
The esteemed outgoing officeholder — in this case then-Sheriff Clarence Dupnik — picked his replacement, then resigned mid-term. Next, the county board appointed his pick.
It’s a maneuver many local officeholders have attempted, as at the time of Nanos’ appointment. Leave before the end of your term, then handpick your replacement.
That proud moment for Nanos has led, though, to a disaster — the indictment of his handpicked chief deputy, Chris Radtke, on federal charges of misusing RICO money.
Add the suicide of Nanos’ other top aide, Brad Gagnepain, which stunned the department; and the sheriff’s possible loss in the upcoming election, and the disaster of his first 16 months could be stunningly complete.
The indictment, though, isn’t just of one top commander — it’s also of the process that brought us here.
I wasn’t a fan of Dupnik by the end of his 35-year tenure as sheriff. I thought he should have passed the baton a couple of terms earlier.
But one thing you could say for sure about Dupnik, a Democrat: He knew politics. And when I say politics, I mean it in the broadest sense.
He had relationships with the Board of Supervisors, knew local business leaders, worked with the powers-that-be in Phoenix. He knew how to handle the internal politics of his department, as well.
Nanos, clearly, isn’t that guy, something he acknowledges freely.
“I’m not a politician,” he reminded me again when we talked Tuesday.
Normally that’s a good thing. Not in this situation.
As anyone who has spoken with Nanos can see, he’s rough-spoken and can be emotional. That would be OK — in fact, I find those qualities endearing — but he hasn’t also had the political skills or vision to run the department in a way that keeps its employees and the public on board with him.
When my colleague Caitlin Schmidt reported that prompted the FBI investigation, Nanos lashed out at her and at the FBI.
But more importantly, he picked as a right-hand man Radtke, a longtime officer who rubbed people the wrong way and may have done worse. Radtke’s alleged misuse of RICO money to benefit his niece’s cafeteria business — leading to Monday’s indictment — started in 2012. In that sense, Nanos should have or at least could have known better than to promote him.
Even now, though, Nanos remains pretty steadfast.
“I don’t know the evidence that the FBI has,” he said. “I, in my heart, believe Chris Radtke is a good man and didn’t steal anything. But could I be wrong? Absolutely. I didn’t do the investigation.”
The deputies’ union, led by Kevin Kubitskey, has lashed out at Nanos, sometimes in ways that have been extreme. For example, amid a variety of conflicts, Kubitskey filed an assault report against Nanos, which the Maricopa County’s Attorney’s Office . That was a bit of a stretch.
But the vehemence of their accusations that Nanos’ administration has been unfair and dictatorial is something a better politician probably would have been able to defuse, or to avoid in the first place by not naming Radtke as chief deputy and creating a new position for Gagnepain, whose title was chief of staff.
More recently, the deputies have allied with Dr. Richard Carmona, a longtime former sheriff’s deputy and an ex-U.S. surgeon general, to call out Nanos. Carmona said at a press conference last week that he’s speaking on behalf of bullied deputies worried to speak for themselves.
“It broke my heart,” he said, “that they feared for their paychecks and their futures.”
Carmona said this wasn’t about elections, and that he himself had not wanted to be sheriff. He simply wanted the public to be informed.
I suspect Carmona may be protesting too much when he denies his interest in the office, but again the critiques speak of a larger political weakness on Nanos’ part. He couldn’t protect that flank.
So, the indictment of Radtke is itself a bad thing but represents something bigger.
Nanos told me Tuesday he thinks he is politically more aligned with the people of Pima County than his Republican opponent, Mark Napier, is. He may well be right.
“If they want a politician, they should vote for Mark Napier,” Nanos said. “If they want a good sheriff, someone who knows this organization, they should vote for me.”
But what if, to be a good sheriff, you have to be a good politician? That’s something you can show when running for office, which, of course, is not how appointees get their jobs.
Pima County needs a sheriff who is a law-enforcement professional with wide experience in both the field and administrative posts. Our county is large and diverse. It requires a leader with a steady hand. A person who can build bridges across communities and political viewpoints.
Mark Napier is that person.
Napier, a Republican, is running against Chris Nanos, a Democrat who was appointed sheriff in 2015 when Clarence Dupnik retired after a 35-year career as sheriff.
Napier ran for sheriff in 2012 and came close to unseating Dupnik. The Star endorsed Napier then, for the same reasons we endorse him now: Heis a steady professional with an impressive range of education and experience.
In a recent joint interview with the Star, Napier said improving compensation for sheriff’s department personnel is his top priority. He has criticized Nanos for several high-level employees who had retired from the force, but have been hired back at generous salaries. Nanos responded that several had been hired by Dupnik, not him, and he appeared to take the criticism as an insult to those specific employees rather than seeing the big picture of how the practice affects the whole organization.
Nanos has served as sheriff for 17 months and it is clear he does not possess the patience or composure needed to be the county’s top elected law-enforcement official.
For example, Nanos lashed out at the FBI, offering to show them how to do real police work, after the agency opened an investigation into Nanos’ decision to give a no-bid contract for an in-house café to a relative of one of his staff members.
During a recent interview with the Star’s editorial board, Nanos criticized Napier for sending campaign mailers to Democrats and for meeting with tea party Republican groups, something Nanos said he wouldn’t do if invited.
Napier said he reached out to Democrats because they’re residents of Pima County. A sheriff shouldn’t be partisan when deciding which speaking invitations to accept, he said, because every county resident is a constituent to serve.
We agree and that’s one reason we endorse Mark Napier.
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