The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to formally request Sheriff Chris Nanos to clarify to the board and to the public the state of the internal investigation into a sexual assault allegedly committed by a sheriff’s department employee.
The supervisors voted 3-2 to formally invite Nanos to the next supervisors meeting, with Chair Adelita Grijalva of District 5 and Rex Scott of District 1 voting no.
Nanos said so far he has not been invited to talk to the supervisors about the internal investigation. “When I get an invite from the board, I will respond,” Nanos said. He added that he would likely attend after the November election.
The ongoing controversy was sparked in December 2022, when Sgt. Ricardo Garcia was accused of sexually assaulting an unconscious female officer at a work holiday party. Garcia was the woman’s supervisor and worked as a sergeant in the Pima County Sheriff’s Department school resources unit.
Garcia was arrested in January 2023, fired from the department, and now faces both criminal and civil charges.
In September 2023, the Pima County Deputy’s Organization claimed that Nanos failed to launch an investigation into how the leadership in the victim’s department handled the alleged sexual assault. The union representing sheriff’s department employees said Nanos was slow to start the investigation and then put it on hold.
Those claims led to the supervisors requesting the Arizona Attorney General’s Office to look into the matter. After an 11-month review, the office found no criminal wrongdoing in Nanos’ investigation, but attorneys with the state office listed four possible violations of the department’s own policies.
The possible violations concern how the sheriff’s employees responded to an officer in danger and how they documented and secured evidence for the case.
That has led to ongoing concerns — from the public and the supervisors — about how Nanos has been handling the case.
Nanos said there was no delay at all in his internal investigation.
“As a leader and as a sheriff we know and understand you have to protect the process, the integrity of a criminal case,” Nanos said.
Supervisor Steve Christy, of District 4, told Arizona Luminaria after the Sept. 17 meeting that multiple constituents have reached out to him asking about the status of the case and wondering when or if Nanos is going to make a statement.
Christy said Nanos has “deflected” and not given “straight answers” about the case. “I just want to give him an opportunity. I think it could only help clarify the situation, maybe remove any clouds hanging over him,” Christy said.
Christy, a Republican, has endorsed Nanos’s Republican opponent, Heather Lappin, in the upcoming sheriff’s election. Lappin is a lieutenant in the sheriff’s department, working in the jail.
“If they want information, they’re going to have to do it in executive session,” Nanos told Arizona Luminaria the day after the meeting. “I’m not going to talk to anybody until this criminal case is over.”
Supervisor Matt Heinz, of District 2, called Nanos’s response to the alleged assault “a pretty colossal issue” and “a failure of leadership.”
Heinz, a Democrat, is also endorsing Lappin.
Sylvia Lee, a Democrat representing District 3, also voted yes.
Scott and Grijalva, meanwhile, questioned what the supervisors’ role was in an internal investigation about possible violations of sheriff’s department rules.
“We have to have a role,” Heinz said, adding that Nanos “has to answer for this somehow.”
Nanos responded to the attorney general’s findings in a Sept. 5 interview with Arizona Luminaria.
“It’s exactly what we expected,” Nanos said. He said the questions about his handling of the investigation are politically motivated.
The attorney general’s office wrote that they “would welcome the opportunity to review the IA (internal affairs) investigation after it is completed by the Sheriff’s Department should this Board continue to have concerns.”
“We understand that additional information will be developed during an IA (internal affairs) investigation which may provide explanations or justifications for these areas of concern.”
“I’m not here to play politics, I’m here to do my job,” Nanos said, defending his department’s approach.
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