A former mayoral candidate who used to write and edit a newspaper in Tombstone has filed a complaint with the state board that certifies peace officers in which he alleged Tombstone Marshal Bob Randall has engaged in a pattern of conduct warranting review of his ability to serve as a peace officer.
Mike Carrafa, former editor of the Tombstone Gazette, accuses Randall of several instances of misconduct, including lying under oath, using his position as marshal to influence an election, and sharing Carrafa’s private tax information with a state liquor inspector who was investigating Carrafa’s wife. In Arizona, a marshal is akin to a police chief.
Randall, who declined Monday to comment on the matter, took the helm at the Tombstone Marshal’s Office (TMO) in September 2015. He has credited Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels with recommending Randall for the marshal’s position. Dannels is a member of the AZPOST board.
A review of AZPOST records shows Randall spent more than 25 years with the Sierra Vista Police Department before retiring in 2008 and then remained active with SVPD as a reserve officer until taking the marshal’s job. His certification record lists no prior misconduct investigations.
Carrafa’s complaint to AZPOST was then initially referred to Dannels’ agency for investigation. However, that was an oversight which is being corrected, according to Matt Giordano, AZPOST’s executive director.
On April 17, Giordano confirmed to Arizona Daily Independent that AZPOST received a complaint letter from Carrafa in early March in which allegations were made against Randall. As per AZPOST’s current policy, Carrafa was sent a letter acknowledging his complaint but it was returned as undeliverable.
Giordano then explained in detail what happened next.
“In conflict with our normal practice, the complaint was forwarded to the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office for review,” Giordano noted. “Earlier this week, I received a call from Sheriff Dannels of Cochise County in which he questioned our process. I was unaware of the complaint and researched it on our end at which time I found it had been forwarded to the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office in error.
“We are in the process of pulling the complaint back from the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office,” he noted, adding that AZPOST would have no further comment on the matter. There was no indication of how long it might take an AZPOST compliance specialist to investigation Carrafa’s complaint.
The complaint comes on the heels of efforts by the Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control to suspend a liquor license Carrafa’s wife Noreen holds for Doc Holliday’s Saloon. Last summer, Randall testified at an administrative hearing about TMO’s calls for service to the saloon, and in January the Arizona State Liquor Board upheld a 14-day suspension and $12,000 in fines.
Enforcement of the order against Noreen Carrafa is on hold while a Cochise County judge considers her appeal.
But according to Carrafa’s complaint letter, Randall provided misleading testimony and lied under oath during the administrative hearing. He also claims the marshal sent the liquor department’s investigator personal information about Mike Carrafa’s business debts, even though only Noreen Carrafa is named on the liquor license.
Carrafa, a frequent critic of Mayor Dusty Escapule, says he was initially excited with the mayor’s decision to hire Randall, in part because TMO had recently gone through a handful of inexperienced or temporary marshals. But soon, Carrafa began to speak out against Randall’s performance.
He also wrote several articles in his newspaper detailing complaints with the marshal. A transcript of Randall’s testimony in the liquor license case shows he described Carrafa’s weekly articles as “slamming the office, slamming me, slamming my deputies, slamming the city, it was full of hate.”
The two men were also involved in civil litigation in 2018 when Carrafa filed a lawsuit over TMO’s handling of several public record requests. The case was dismissed in early 2019 after the parties settled out of court.
News of the AZPOST complaint becomes public at a difficult time for TMO, which like many small departments has been dealing with staffing impacts related to COVID-19. Then on April 18, Deputy Sean Greene required surgery after suffering facial injuries during a dog attack when he responded to a domestic violence call. It’s unclear when Greene will be cleared to return to duty.
But TMO was already shorthanded before the social distancing restrictions and Greene’s injuries due to the departure of Deputy Robert Valenzuela, who resigned without advance notice on March 3. Valenzuela’s departure from TMO came after he was passed over for a position with the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office.
In addition, AZPOST records show Valenzuela did not fulfill his mandatory annual firearms training in 2019. That means TMO was required to reassign Valenzuela in a no-firearms position effective Jan. 1, 2020 until he fulfilled the training mandate. It’s unclear whether that happened.
And last September, another deputy left TMO after securing a trooper position with the Arizona Department of Public Safety. A few weeks later the new trooper resigned after new background information came to light.
That same deputy also reportedly made negative comments to a DPS background investigator about a TMO supervisor. The supervisor is currently the subject of a false imprisonment and assault lawsuit filed against Randall and the city in January.
Despite TMO’s personnel turmoil, many law enforcement officials told Arizona Daily Independent that Randall has greatly improved TMO’s in-house training and performance standards, as well as its working relationships with local, state, and federal agencies.