Former Pima County chief deputy to change plea, will be sentenced Friday

The Pima County Sheriff Department's former second-in-command has entered a change of 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 Friday at 10:30 a.m. in federal Judge Eric Markovich's courtroom, records show.

Radtke resigned as Chief Deputy nearly two weeks after his indictment for allegedly embezzling at least $500,000 of forfeiture money from the Sheriff’s Auxiliary Volunteers fund between 2011 and 2016, according to court records.

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Public records previously obtained by the Star showed that between January 2010 and October 2015, the Sheriff’s Department transferred nearly $720,000 in forfeiture funds into the auxiliary volunteers fund.

Radtke was indicted after a months-long FBI investigation, which began after the Star reported that his niece, Nikki Thompson, took over a cafe inside the Sheriff’s Department’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.

The indictment includes 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.