He’s calls himself "America's toughest sheriff" but it appears a federal judge is trying to knock Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio off his throne.
On May 13, Judge Murray Snow found Arpaio, MCSO Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan and MCSO Lieutenant Souza are in civil contempt in the racial profiling case.
This all has to do with the civil lawsuit filed against MCSO.
In May 2013, Snow found MCSO guilty of racially profiling Latinos during traffic stops. Snow issued a ruling and ordered sweeping changes to prevent it from happening again.
In 2015, Arpaio admitted he violated Snow's orders when he let his officers conduct immigration patrols for 18 months -- after MCSO was ordered to stop them.
Arpaio launched a secret investigation into Snow and his wife in a failed bid to get him booted the case.
In their testimony during the evidentiary hearing, Sheriff Arpaio and Sheridan made multiple intentional misstatements of fact while under oath.
Sheriff Arpaio is in civil contempt on Counts One, Two, and Three of the Order to Show Cause. Chief Deputy Sheridan is in civil contempt on Counts One and Three. Retired Chief Sheridan and Lieutenant Sousa are in civil contempt on Count One.
The Court has set a hearing for May 31, 2016, in which the Parties will be able to discuss with the Court the appropriate relief.
