Last week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions stunned Pima County law enforcement officers when he announced the appointment of U.S. Attorney John W. Huber of the District of Utah to investigate allegations of misconduct by DOJ and FBI officials in the Russian probe. Sessions rejected Republicans’ demand for a special prosecutor to look into the matter.
Huber first came to the attention of Arizona law enforcement when he responded to criticisms about an investigation into RICO fund spending abuses by the Pima County Sheriff’s Office. Although the indictment against former Pima County Chief Deputy Chris Radtke claimed that for 18 years, Pima County officials “engaged in a scheme to launder RICO/forfeiture funds to circumvent the strict restrictions on the use of those funds,” Radtke pled to a single misdemeanor charge.
The plea deal was not as shocking as the fact that Radtke was the only participant in the alleged conspiracy who was indicted. None of Radtke’s peers or higher ups were held responsible for the abuse of funds. The fact that officials like Chief Karl Woolridge were held harmless outraged both the Department’s personnel and Pima County residents.
Huber ignored complaints and commended “the excellent work that the FBI in Tucson did on this important case.”
“Woolridge is married to Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela Woolridge, “ reported the ADI in 2017. “In 2011, Angela was lauded by then U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder for “exceptional performance and notable accomplishments towards the Department’s mission by an employee with fewer than five years of federal career service.” Ms. Woolridge had previously worked for Barbara LaWall at the Pima County Attorney’s Office.
It was widely believed that the Woolridge’s relationship was the reason the case was “conflicted out” to Huber’s office, according to the ADI report.
Karl Woolridge was one of the recipients of a memo written by financial administrator Ron Jee in 2013, in which he warned that the RICO spending was problematic. According to a recent KGUN 9 News report by Valerie Cavasos, that memo was preceded by another that included the warning: “The guidelines also emphasize that the cost should not create the appearance of extravagance or impropriety.”
Jee told Cavasos that he was told to eliminate the word “extravagant” because it was a subjective term. However, that term is straight from the federal guidelines.
Cavasos reported that legal experts told her that “dropping that line could show intent and could spell legal trouble.” But few in the Sheriff’s Department believed it could spell legal trouble. After all, Woolridge was married to an Assistant U.S. Attorney and was believed to be cooperating with the FBI, so he would be certainly held harmless, Gagnepain was dead, Radtke would get a slap on the wrist and until Trump changed the U.S. Attorney in Arizona and its neighboring states, higher ups, who should have been held culpable would not be.
Not only did Woolridge avoid prosecution, he and Deanna Johnson, were made Bureau Chiefs. Among the most egregious abuses of RICO funds were Woolridge’s use of RICO funds on a tuxedo and Johnson’s purchase of a ball gowns for the Department’s award ceremonies.
It was the deputies’ outrage prompted Pima County Sheriff Mark Napier’s to request that the Arizona Attorney General review the case and see if action could be taken on the state level,” according to the ADI report.
In a letter to to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte and House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, Sessions said that a special counsel is named only in “the most ‘extraordinary circumstances.’ ”
Sessions explained, “To justify such an appointment, the Attorney General would need to conclude that ‘the public interest would be served by removing a large degree of responsibility for the matter from the Department of Justice.” Sessions added, “I am confident that Mr. Huber’s review will include a full, complete, and objective evaluation of these matters in a manner that is consistent with the law and the facts.”
Few in southern Arizona would share Sessions’ confidence.
Lt. Joseph Cameron, of the Pima County Sheriff’s Office had worked tirelessly to bring justice for his fellow deputies and the taxpayers of Pima County was one of the most surprised by Sessions’ pick. “I’m still hoping there will be a real, unbiased, non-politically driven investigation into the RICO corruption in the Pima County Sheriff’s Department. And anyone, both currently and formerly employed, who was culpable will be held accountable, both criminally and administratively, but I’m not holding my breath.”
Huber, who has served in both Democratic and Republican administrations as a career prosecutor, nearly had his tenure as US attorney cut short last year. In March 2017, shortly after he took charge of the Justice Department, Sessions asked for the resignations of 46 US attorneys who were previous administration holdovers.
Originally appointed by President Barack Obama in 2015, Huber offered his resignation, leaving his fate in the hands of the DOJ.
But President Donald Trump re-nominated Huber in June 2017, and two months later Huber was back at his former post, confirmed by the US Senate for an additional four years.
Arizona continues to be denied a permanent US Attorney due to the failure of the Senate to approve appointments in a timely fashion. Watchdogs hope that the nominee will be Andrew Pachecho, formerly with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.