Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos.The Arizona Attorney General’s investigation of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department has raised concerns about potential policy violations in its handling of an alleged sexual assault of a female deputy by her supervisor Ricardo Garcia in December 2022.
In a report delivered to the Board of Supervisors this week, Nicholas Klingerman, Chief Counsel of the Criminal Division of the Attorney General’s Office, wrote that the investigation had found no criminal wrongdoing, but found four potential policy violations.
These included command staff potentially neglecting their duty to aid other department members exposed to danger, failure of an off-duty officer to act in an official capacity, improper documentation and reporting requirements, and failing to properly secure evidence.
Sergeant Aaron Cross is the President of the Pima County Deputy’s Organization, the union leading the opposition to Nanos’ handling of the incident. They have about 200 deputy members.
He said these findings were vindicating.
“The AG’s, even without the benefit of documents from an internal investigation, wrote that they were concerned about serious policy violations by the command staff, which is what we've been saying all along,” he said.
A Sheriff’s Department General Order brought up in the report reads: “All members are required to take appropriate police action toward aiding a fellow police peace officer or department member exposed to danger or in a situation where danger might be pending.”
Cross said this point in the report was the most concerning to him.
“This policy may have been violated by command staff who were notified of the situation and/or responded to the scene, but provided limited or no assistance to department members dispatched to the scene,” the report reads.
Background
In September 2023, the Pima County Deputy’s Organization released a statement condemning Sheriff Nanos’ decision to place an internal investigation of Garcia’s case on hold. The union claims the deputy’s Lieutenant, Captain, and Chief were aware she was being sexually assaulted by her Sergeant for over 80 minutes and did not intervene.
According to the interim complaint filed by the victim, she had been drinking alcohol to the point of needing to be helped into a guest bedroom in Garcia’s house to spend the night after a holiday party in December 2022. Garcia and an unnamed witness deputy helped her into the bedroom and left. The complaint then says the witness deputy found Garcia had re-entered the room several times and locked the door. The deputy allegedly used a plastic utensil to unlock the door and remove Garcia three separate times.
The back and forth between the Deputy's Organization and Nanos caught the attention of the Pima County Board of Supervisors, who then approved the Attorney General's outside investigation into Nanos' conduct in November 2023.
The Sheriff’s Department did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication, however, Nanos briefly addressed the Attorney General’s findings that there had been no criminal wrongdoing at a live-streamed debate between him and Republican challenger for Sheriff Heather Lappin on Wednesday night. He did not address the potential policy violations.
The Sheriff has said an Internal Affairs investigation will move forward after Garcia’s criminal trial ends. The AG's letter said they "would welcome the opportunity to review the IA investigation after it is completed by the Sheriff's Department should this Board continue to have concerns."
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