Ex-Pima County chief deputy to be sentenced in money laundering, theft case

The Pima County Sheriff Department’s former second-in-command will change his plea in the federal money laundering and theft case against him, court records show.

Christopher Radtke was indicted last September on one count of conspiracy to launder money and six counts of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, after allegedly misusing money that was meant to be used for crime fighting and prevention purposes, according to U.S. District Court records.

Radtke will enter his change of plea and be sentenced at 10:30 a.m. Friday in U.S. Magistrate Judge Eric Markovich’s courtroom, records show.

Radtke resigned as chief deputy Oct. 13, nearly two weeks after his indictment on charges of embezzling at least $500,000 of forfeiture money from the sheriff’s auxiliary volunteers fund between 2011 and 2016, according to court records.

He was indicted after a months-long FBI investigation, which began in November 2015, after the Star reported that his niece, Nikki Thompson, took over a cafe inside the sheriff’s headquarters in 2011.

Thompson was operating cafes inside headquarters and the Pima County Adult Detention Center without a county contract, and the department spent more than $30,000 in renovations and improvement to the locations, the Star reported in November 2015.

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The indictment lists multiple allegations of conspiracy, several relating to cafe purchases, including nearly $2,000 for custom-designed chalkboards that were used as menu boards in Thompson’s two cafe locations.

Other allegations of misuse include restaurant bills, materials for a Santa sleigh for the department’s awards banquet, and two model airplanes with rush shipping, according to the document.

On Jan. 4, Radtke filed a motion of his intent to use a “public authority defense,” saying that he was acting on behalf of the department when the alleged crimes occurred.

A public authority defense means the defendant knowingly committed a crime, but did so “in reasonable reliance upon a grant of authority from a government official to engage in illegal activity,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice website.

The indictment lists a conspiracy charge and mentions other persons “known and unknown to the Grand Jury,” but as of Tuesday no one else had been charged.

Sean Chapman, Radtke’s attorney, could not be reached for comment.