November 9, 2016 / Modified nov 9, 2016 9:20 a.m.

Napier Wins Pima County Sheriff's Race, Ousting Nanos

Indictment of Nanos' second-in-command one month before election hurt him.

Mark Napier Primary Win spot Mark Napier wins the Republican nomination for Pima County Sheriff on August 28, 2012.
AZPM

Republican Mark Napier was elected Pima County sheriff Tuesday, defeating incumbent Democrat Chris Nanos in a race overshadowed by indictment of Nanos' second-in-command.

Chris Nanos was appointed sheriff in July 2015 following the retirement of longtime Democratic Sheriff Clarence Dupnik.

Nanos' chief deputy, Chris Radtke, was indicted by a federal grand jury on conspiracy and misuse of public money charges one month ago. Radtke resigned the same day.

The case involves money seized in crimes under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a federal law known as RICO that distributes the money to law enforcement agencies.

Napier said the problems in the Sheriff’s Department did not end with Radtke’s departure because Nanos is responsible. Napier said the indictment validates what he’s been saying about the department throughout the campaign, that rank-and-file deputies felt intimidated about reporting corruption at the top.

“I think like many people in Pima County I’m very disappointed that there’s corruption that has occurred in our sheriff’s department that has prompted an indictment, a federal indictment of a top official at the sheriff’s department,” Napier said.

In an interview with Arizona Public Media in September, Nanos said diverting seized money to community groups instead of using it to benefit his department.

“I take RICO dollars - that’s drug money I can use to buy stuff,” Nanos said. “I got stuff. We now use it for strictly those programs out there, like Youth on Their Own, Boys and Girls Club – a number of different nonprofits who help kids graduate.”

The indictment accused Radtke of misusing about $500,000 of the seized RICO money.

By posting comments, you agree to our
AZPM encourages comments, but comments that contain profanity, unrelated information, threats, libel, defamatory statements, obscenities, pornography or that violate the law are not allowed. Comments that promote commercial products or services are not allowed. Comments in violation of this policy will be removed. Continued posting of comments that violate this policy will result in the commenter being banned from the site.

By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona