News

Actions

Few answers from Charley Armendariz MCSO probe

Posted at 11:24 PM, Dec 29, 2015
and last updated 2015-12-30 01:30:01-05
 
 
Investigators found hundreds of driver's licenses, Mexican identification cards, license plates, and credit cards inside his home, according to a previous ABC 15 report.
 
Internal affairs investigations obtained Tuesday revealed that the MCSO worked to learn how ID's connected to cases Armendariz never worked ended up as part of his hoard. 
 
The deputies who did work those cases told investigators that they had no idea how a handful of Mexican driver's licenses, international driver's licenses, and an Arizona driver's license and ID card ended up at Armendariz' home.
 
 The owners of those identification cards had various encounters with the MCSO, ranging from human smuggling investigations to a traffic stop. The deputies who led those cases told investigators that they neither gave the ID's to Armendariz, nor arranged for the evidence to be handed over to him.
 
At deadline Tuesday night, ABC 15 had dozens more cases to review from the newly-released documents. One other internal investigation reviewed on Tuesday detailed how a sergeant assigned to investigate Armendariz in the months before Armendariz' death admitted to wide-ranging errors. Armendariz admitted to an off-duty traffic stop; the driver who was stopped submitted a complaint against Armendariz, saying he used unnecessary force and damaged her motorcycle.
 
The sergeant who investigated admitted to not documenting the complainant's injuries, not recording interviews with Armendariz, or following up with a DPS officer who was on scene. That sergeant was issued a written reprimand for not following MCSO policy.
 
Sheriff Joe Arpaio previously said he did not know what changed for Armendariz in the week before the deputy's suicide, and said the internal investigations were launched to determine whether Armendariz was working alongside criminals in connection with his stash of ID's.