Pinal County Sheriff's Office Press Release: MCSO Internal Investigation

NEWS RELEASE
Pinal County Sheriff’s Office • 971 Jason Lopez Circle
Florence, Arizona 85132 • 520-866-5174 • Fax: 520-866-5195 Paul Babeu, Sheriff

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, September 17, 2010

CONTACT: Media Relations, Tim Gaffney, 520-705-8124

MCSO Internal Investigation

Sheriff Paul Babeu was asked by Sheriff Arpaio to investigate allegations made against three command staff members of his office by Deputy Chief Frank Munnell. The case was forwarded to Sheriff Babeu this week.

Last evening Sheriff Babeu completed an initial review of the case and has recommended to Sheriff Arpaio that Chief Deputy David Hendershott, Deputy Chief Larry Black and Captain Joel Fox be placed on paid administrative leave while this case is investigated.
This leave includes no use of MCSO equipment including email and cell phones and no access to MCSO facilities.

Sheriff Babeu further has asked today, that all individuals involved in the investigation be admonished. This means none of the parties involved are permitted to speak with anybody concerning this investigation with the exception of investigators or attorney’s.

The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office will be conducting the administrative portion of this investigation and all parties involved will be afforded complete due process. The investigation will be unbiased, professional and in the end will be based solely on facts.

To assist with this investigation, Sheriff Babeu will be hiring outside special counsel and other expert staff to assist him with this high level investigation.

At the conclusion of the investigation, Sheriff Babeu will continue with his practice of transparency in government and will explain the investigation and any recommendations he has made publicly.Today, Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox and Supervisor Don Stapley held a Press Conference in an attempt to try this case publicly. Sheriff Babeu has spoken with Deputy Chief Munnell and others within the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office all of which have full confidence in his ability to investigate this case thoroughly and fairly. If all parties involved with the complaint agree Sheriff Babeu is best suited to investigate the allegations then we ask Supervisors Wilcox and Stapley to wait for the conclusion of the investigation before casting any doubt.