Suspended Pima County constable resigns from post

A Pima County constable who was already suspended from serving the remainder of his term has officially resigned.

Oscar Vasquez announced his resignation Monday in a handwritten letter sent to Pima County Clerk of the Board Melissa Manriquez, her office confirmed on Wednesday.

The Board of Supervisors could begin discussing the process of appointing a replacement as early as their May 21 meeting. The process however will be at the board’s discretion.

Vasquez was elected in 2016 as of one nine peace officers tasked with serving civil-and-criminal papers of the Pima County Justice Court. His area encompassed west Tucson, Tucson Estates, portions of Drexel Heights and Three Points.

In February, supervisors suspended Vasquez accused him of not showing up for work, from April to September of last year.

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“On April 26th Constable Vasquez began what he stated as ‘medical leave’. As of today, he has not returned to work, and his caseload is being distributed to other Constables, which is increasing their already high caseloads,” presiding constable Eric Krznarich said in a complaint filed in September, alleging that Vasquez’s “last document served” was the date of his medical leave.

“His absence is causing delays in the delivery of papers. Constables are driving long distances, 100+ miles to serve them and others are adding to their already busy precincts. We understand if he is not able to legitimately come back to work, but he is refusing to provide documentation,” he wrote in the September complaint.

This wasn’t Vasquez’s first time facing disciplinary action from the board, however.

At the end of his first term, Vasquez received a four-month suspension for “damaging several county vehicles, excessive speeding, confronting a citizen during a driving incident and public urination,” the Star previously reported. And in 2021, supervisors suspended Vasquez without pay for 180 days for failing to evict a tenant, an action at the time he called “morally wrong and unjust” due to the “current COVID-19 pandemic and housing crisis.”

Supervisors voted to dissolve Justice Precinct 5 on Tucson’s east side in 2021, leaving the county with nine constables. Vasquez’s suspension had left the county with eight constables until the next election, but his resignation forces a replacement process.