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Protect and serve? Perhaps loot and rape would be a better motto for the cops that claim to protect us.
Hendershott wants us to pay him (another) $7 million? Yet another set of claims has been filed in the apparently never ending Maricopa County wars. Ex-Chief Deputy Sheriff Dave Hendershott’s pain and suffering continues. He’s now demanding $7 million to compensate him for his emotional distress, his future medical needs and retirement and oh yeah, the $3 million he claims to have lost in potential earning ability. This, on top of the $14 million he demanded six months ago. Ex-Deputy Chief Larry Black also has his hand out for $7 million and Capt Joel Fox – who has thus far earned more than $77,000 while on sitting at home on paid administrative leave – wants $8 million, on top of the $5 million he's already demanded. Basically, their complaint is that Frank Munnell – the top commander whose 63-page letter alleging years of mismanagement and misconduct -- destroyed their careers based upon a pack of lies. They contend that Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeau, brought in to investigate, then bought into Munnell’s lies in order to further his political ambitions. Once Babeau’s report was released, both Hendershott and Black resigned to avoid being fired. “Not because they had done anything wrong," their claims says, "but because they felt rejected for their loyal years of service and dedication and the mistreatment they had endured in this procedure.” Babeau’s investigation found, among other things, that Hendershott was obessed with investigating county officials and judges, to the point of staffing his anti-corruption unit with inexperienced officers when seasoned investigators balked at his “unreasonable, if unfathomable” instructions. The report said Hendershott also pressured MCSO’s cell phone provider, Verizon, into telling his mortgage company that late payments on his personal account were not his fault in order to improve his credit rating while he was seeking a new mortgage. It also goes into his verbal tirades, an eight-day Alaskan baseball trip for his son’s team, financed with $25,000 in posse donations and claims that he that he faked statistics in a 1997 sting operation. In all, nearly $200 million worth of claims and/or lawsuits have been filed in the Maricopa County wars -- from judges, from elected officials (former and current) and from county staffers. |