Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos places political opponent on paid leave

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos’ administration placed his election opponent on paid leave three weeks before Election Day and a week into early voting.

Heather Lappin, a lieutenant at the Pima County jail and the Republican candidate for sheriff, says she was notified Monday that she was on paid administrative leave after the department accused her of posting a photo on her campaign’s Facebook page showing deputies campaigning in uniform.

Late Tuesday, the department said its initial probe of a union leader campaigning for Lappin this weekend while dressed in a way that indicated he was a law enforcement officer prompted a subsequent inquiry that showed Lappin “colluded with a journalist to facilitate payment to an inmate (at the Pima County jail) in exchange for a news story.”

“Lt. Lappin granted the journalist access to inmates for interviews and provided him with access to deposit funds into the inmates’ accounts,” the department said in a news release Tuesday afternoon. “These actions raise several policy and ethical concerns regarding appropriate conduct of jail business by command staff.”

The journalist was not identified and the nature of the news stories was not immediately known.

“The appropriate utilization of administrative leave affords the department the ability to halt any further activities so that a proper inquiry can be completed,” the department news release says. “In this case, due to the nature of the possible violations, referrals will be made to the Arizona Attorney General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”

Earlier in the day, Lappin called Nanos’ disciplinary decision “vindictive” and an act of “retribution”.

Meanwhile, Supervisor Matt Heinz, a critic of Nanos, said Tuesday that county residents should be be “very, very upset” by what occurred.

Heinz said Nanos is using his authority to hamper Lappin’s campaign and try to secure reelection.

“You could be the sheriff, a supervisor or the President of the United States,” Heinz said. “Behavior like this must be called out and rejected on every level.”

Last year, the board urged employees to run for county office, something Heinz said he was happy to support.

“This is not the way this was supposed to go,” he lamented. “This is Putin-type stuff . . . I hope he takes rape allegations among his employees as seriously as he takes made up allegations against Heather Lappin.”

The board had asked Nanos to attend Tuesday’s meeting to discuss possible violations of department policies that the state Attorney General’s Office cited in a review the board requested of the department’s handling of an alleged sexual assault of a deputy by her supervisor at a Christmas party attended by several members of the department. Ricardo “Ricky” Garcia, a former sergeant on the department’s school resource team, is facing trial in the 2022 incident.

Nanos did not go to Tuesday’s meeting.

Last week, Supervisor Steve Christy’s chief of staff, Beth Borazon, sent an email to Nanos’ office inviting the sheriff to attend Tuesday’s meeting. Caroline Vargas, Nanos’ executive aide, notified Supervisor Steve Christy that “Sheriff Nanos will not politicize any criminal case.”

Nanos last Friday responded to an email from Christy’s chief of staff, Beth Borazon, about the meeting invitation.

“Unlike certain members of the board, I will not re-victimize this young lady and allow politics to further their agenda,” his email reads. “Mr. Christy’s timing is rather suspicious. I will answer any and ALL questions after (Nov. 6) in Executive Session.”

Election Day is Nov. 5, and executive sessions are closed-door meetings unavailable to the public.

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Heinz, a Democrat, has been critical of Nanos and his actions in recent months. Most recently he wrote an op-ed in the Star endorsing Lappin, a Republican. In the opinion, Heinz said and saying that under Nanos over the years “has demonstrated he is unfit for the role.”

There was some discussion, albeit brief, during the board’s meeting Tuesday about seeking outside counsel to investigate any possible criminal or civil violations from Nano’s actions. Heinz told the Star after the meeting that he’s “already started the process.”

“There’s obviously a conflict, because the Pima County Attorney is the attorney for (the board and the Sheriff’s Department) . . . . so we can’t use the same attorney to adjudicate, to pursue this, so we would need outside counsel to help us look into this. And I’m in the process of requesting that right now,” he said.

“I strongly believe that there could be, possibly criminal, certainly civil, violations by (Nanos) in using his power to affect an election in his own favor . . . by publicly trying to embarrass his opponent or to do something, anything, that could affect the outcome of the election,” Heinz told the Star. “That’s clearly what’s going on right now.”

In a letter Monday, Corrections Bureau Chief Scott Lowing told Lappin she was on paid leave after the department learned of “political activities occurring in the public by members of the department in law enforcement attire in the last 72 hours.”

The behavior was called “concerning” by Lowing because it “erodes public trust” in the department.

The letter says Lappin knew and condoned the actions of the deputies by posting an image on her campaign’s Facebook page.

“I have been directed to not discuss the reasons (of my leave), so that the only information is provided by the sheriff and his administration,” Lappin said Tuesday, prior to the news release by the department.

“This appears to be yet another attempt to suppress the opinions of both myself and numerous other employees that are hoping for positive change in leadership, undermining freedom of speeches and open disclosure. I have done nothing wrong other than challenge him in an election,” she said.

The paid leave requires that she stay home during work hours, effectively preventing her from campaigning.

Lappin is not the only one the department put on paid leave.

Sgt. Aaron Cross, a frequent critic of Nanos who is president of the Pima County Deputy’s Organization union, was also disciplined.

Cross was warned Saturday about dressing in department-issued clothing that made him look like he could be on duty while campaigning for Lappin, the department said in its news release Tuesday.

“Sgt. Cross was warned that any future political involvement should not include portraying himself as law enforcement. It was made clear to Sgt. Cross to not look like a deputy and Cross said that he understood,” the release said.

On Monday, however, Cross was again seen on a street corner campaigning for Lappin “while wearing tan BDU cargo pants, tan boots, a gray t-shirt, a weapon in a holster, and his magazine pouch with handcuffs.” That violated a direct order regarding what he could wear while helping Lappin’s campaign, the release said.

Attorney Steve Serbalik, who is representing both Lappin and Cross through the Arizona Conference of Police and Sheriffs (AZCOPS), said prior to the department news release that regardless of politics, it is important to respect the right of law enforcement to participate in the political process while off-duty.

Without commenting on specifics of the ongoing investigation, Serbalik said that if AZCOP members are “facing retaliatory investigations or administrative leave for protected speech activities, these actions would be unconstitutional, and goes against everything that law enforcement stands for.”

Serbalik also mentioned department issued “gag orders” prohibiting Lappin and Cross from discussing their paid leave. “Both myself and my members look forward to being able to comment further after the (gag orders) are lifted by Sheriff Nanos,” Serbalik said.

Nanos, a Democrat, was first appointed as sheriff in 2015 after longtime sheriff Clarence Dupnik retired. The next year he lost the post to Republican Mark Napier. Nanos however defeated Napier in 2020.