Arizona AG asked to review PCSD internal probe

The Pima County Board of Supervisors wants the Arizona Attorney’s General’s Office to review the internal investigation of a sex assault that involved a sergeant and deputy.

The Attorney General’s Office will once again be asked to review the conduct of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department after an internal investigation in the handling of a 2022 sexual assault.

Ricky Garcia, a former sergeant in the Sheriff’s Department, was sentenced in February to one year in jail after being convicted in the attempted sexual assault of a female coworker during a holiday party in 2022 that several deputies attended.

Pima County administrator Jan Lesher said during Tuesday’s Board meeting that she had prepared a letter to the Attorney General. However, the county would need to redact certain information from the internal investigation before its released publicly and the request is sent, Lesher said.

“I want to make sure before I send something, if it comes out from me and becomes an open public record, we have appropriately redacted any personally identifiable information that needed to be redacted,” Lesher said.

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Lesher said during the meeting she was optimistic that the letter to the Attorney General would be sent by this week.

In 2023, county supervisors requested an independent investigation by the state into how the Sheriff Chris Nanos conducted and internal review of his agency’s handling of the assault, which was taken up by the Attorney General’s Office.

In September last year, the office found no criminal wrongdoing of the Sheriff’s Department’s investigative process, but did find possible violations of four department policies.

Along with their findings, the Attorney General’s office told the county it would be willing to review the Sheriff’s Department’s internal investigation, an offer which the county will take the office up on, Lesher said.