It helps to know people in high places.
That certainly held true for former Maricopa County Deputy Chief Gerald (Jerry) Sheridan on January 16, 2019, when three members of the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board (AZPOST) had to recuse themselves when the matter of Joe Arpaio’s number two’s conduct, documented in the Melendes vs Arpaio Court findings and independent investigations, was brought before them.
To recount from earlier articles, Jerry Sheridan, while serving as Deputy Chief under Joe Arpaio, was found in contempt of court by Judge Murray Snow for not following federal immigration and law enforcement guidelines mandated to the Maricopa County Sheriffs Department.
The Judge also found that Sheridan had a conflict of interests and was not forthcoming when one of his deputies (also a friend and business associate) Brian James Mackiewicz was under investigation for a variety of alleged offenses.
As a result of the court findings and an independent investigation that focused on the Judge Snow’s contempt citations on the Deputy Chief and Sheridan’s truthfulness during depositions, a case file was opened to consider stripping the former Chief Deputy of his credentials (badge) at the January 16, 2019 meeting of AZPOST.
Please click below to access the meeting minutes, a recording of the event (The Sheridan matter starts at about 38:30 and goes for about eight minutes,) and the board minutes.
https://post.az.gov/sites/default/files/January%2016%20Agenda.pdf
https://post.az.gov/sites/default/files/011619_02.mp3
https://post.az.gov/sites/default/files/011619%20Minutes.pdf
After the designated official introduced the case, three members of the board (Chief Alan Rodbell, Colonel Frank Milstead, and Andrew LeFevre) advised that they had either a professional or friendly relationship with Sheridan and had to recuse themselves from the matter.
With those three recusing themselves, there was no active quorum to proceed with advancing the case on whether Mr. Sheridan should lose his credentials.
The matter was tabled until a quorum could convene to consider the case.
Twenty-one months later, no quorum has been able to preside over this matter and Sheridan has retained his badge and his running as the 2020 Republican Nominee for Maricopa County Sheriff.
Remember, this is the same Jerry Sheridan who:
- defied court orders.
- probably knowingly lied under oath.
- presided over a culture of corruption in the Maricopa County Sheriffs Department.
- been accused of using the N-word.
- was in a position of influence when Joe Arpaio conducted his sham birther investigation into Barack Obama, at taxpayer expense.
- worked in the Department when Arpaio lower deputies intimidated and stalked political enemies and possibly their family members who went against their common agenda.
- was in a position of influence when the Sheriff’s Department, through its corruption, incurred millions of dollars in legal bills which the County Government (through the taxpayers) had to pay.
Sheridan has said, if elected this November, he would bring back some of the people that served him and Arpaio.
Given the above bullet points, that is not reassuring.
Given his track record and the fact that it was the luck of knowing three people on the AZPOST Board that allowed him to keep his badge, the voters and residents of Maricopa County can do much better than having Jerry Sheridan at the helm in the Sheriff’s Department.
They do not need him in their lives again.
Maricopa County does not need Joe Arpaio 2.0.
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