Reuters: Most Read Articles: Government ends criminal probe of controversial Arizona sheriff

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Government ends criminal probe of controversial Arizona sheriff Sep 1st 2012, 03:08 Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Arizona sheriff Paul Babeu cleared of wrongdoing in probe Fri, Aug 31 2012 Arizona Republican's "Middle Easterners" comments spark debate Wed, Aug 29 2012 Veteran congressman Flake favored in Arizona Republican Senate primary Mon, Aug 27 2012 House Republicans sue Attorney General Holder over gun probe Mon, Aug 13 2012 Health reform may expose immigrant status of millions Thu, Aug 9 2012 Analysis & Opinion Does Paul Ryan mean Romney has already lost the Latino vote? In Putin's circle, Obama is Gorbachev Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio arrives to a news conference in Phoenix, Arizona May 10, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Joshua Lott By Tim Gaynor PHOENIX | Fri Aug 31, 2012 11:08pm EDT PHOENIX (Reuters) - The federal government has closed a criminal probe of alleged financial misconduct by Arizona lawman Joe Arpaio, who styles himself as "America's toughest sheriff," saying no charges would be filed, the U.S. Attorney's Office said on Friday. A separate federal investigation relating to allegations of civil rights abuses by Arpaio's office is continuing. The announcement on Friday marked the end of an investigation that began in November 2010 at the behest of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to examine alleged financial improprieties by the county sheriff and his deputies. A federal criminal inquiry into several of those matters was concluded last summer with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona declining to initiate criminal charges. Maricopa County authorities were informed on Friday that federal prosecutors had likewise declined to bring charges in connection with allegations that the sheriff's office had misused county credit cards or misspent money from jail facilities excise taxes. In addition, the U.S. Attorney's Office declined to prosecute two former officials of the county attorney's office who were accused of wrongfully prosecuting a local judge. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann Birmingham Scheel said in a statement that her office "is closing its investigation into allegations of criminal conduct by current and former members of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and the Maricopa County Attorney's Office." Arpaio, 80, who is seeking re-election to a sixth term as sheriff in November, has been under a separate federal inquiry since 2008 over allegations that he and his deputies engaged in an extensive pattern of civil rights abuses. Arpaio has denied any wrongdoing. Lisa Allen, a spokeswoman for his office, said the sheriff was flying back to Phoenix from the Republican National Convention in Florida, and was not immediately available for comment. The Justice Department's long-running civil rights probe of Arpaio led to a lawsuit in May accusing the sheriff and his office of racial profiling and unlawful arrests of Latinos in a bid to crack down on illegal immigration. The civil suit also accused Arpaio's office of routinely violating the constitutional free-speech rights of political opponents by retaliating against them through unsubstantiated legal action, including unlawful arrests. (Reporting By Tim Gaynor; Editing by Steve Gorman and Peter Cooney) Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (7) We need Sheriff Joe's in every city across the US to protect our communities and economy from the illegal foreign invaders. The Federal government is not enforcing our laws and instead breaks them and rewards foreign criminals at the expense of it's citizens. You want America to be weak and cut down to size then just allow a foreign invasion like our anti American President has done and even rewarded for doing so. Aug 31, 2012 9:00pm EDT  --  Report as abuse A great example of what kind of an insult we have for a president. Obama goes after the best law enforcing AND law abiding sheriff in America and wastes four years of taxpayer money only to drop the case because nothing wrong was done… November can't come soon enough! Aug 31, 2012 9:09pm EDT  --  Report as abuse Sheriff Arpaio is an elected official who faithfully represents the views of the majority of his constituents. These people understood back in Clinton's time that Black welfare moms were the real problem. They now are aware that brown immigrants are just as bad. Aug 31, 2012 10:11pm EDT  --  Report as abuse See All Comments » Add Your Comment

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