New evidence uncovered on Pinal County Sheriff’s computers may show they violated federal law

PHOENIX - The ABC15 Investigators have uncovered new documents showing potential violations of federal law in Sheriff Paul Babeu's Office.

The sheriff and his staff are under investigation for violating the Hatch Act which bans campaigning for office using government resources.

The ABC15 Investigators obtained a campaign video and hundreds of pages of documents all found on the laptops of Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu and his top staff.

The materials were a result of a subpoena.

It's part of the investigation by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel into violations of the Hatch Act looking into whether Babeu and his staff were campaigning on the county's dime.

And the evidence shows that's exactly what happened.

Emails and letters were uncovered by the feds in their search for keywords like "campaign", "candidate" and "fundraising".

They also found video clips from Chief Deputy Steve Henry's campaign video who until Friday was planning to run for Pinal County Sheriff.

Buried in more than 500 pages, the ABC15 Investigators found campaign literature, a flyer for a campaign fundraiser, and email after email discussing Babeu's run for congress... all found on county laptops.

There were emails from the sheriff's spokesperson setting up Babeu's appearances on FOX News and CNN to discuss his run for U.S. Congress.

And there was a letter from Babeu to Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne endorsing Steve Henry for sheriff.

A sheriff's spokesperson told us they are aware the documents and video have been released, but they have been told by the Office of Special Counsel not to comment because of the ongoing investigation.