PHOENIX, AZ – A former correctional peace officers union president, Darren Sikes, is going to prison for misusing at least $134,000 belonging to the Arizona Correctional Peace Officers Association.
Sikes’ daughter, Samantha Sikes, who served as the union’s secretary, pleaded guilty in July.
The elder Sikes was sentenced to 1.5 years in prison. Sikes will serve a term of supervised probation following his release from prison.
Samantha was sentenced to five years’ probation and ordered to pay restitution.
Sikes was sentenced to 1.5 years in prison after pleading guilty to Fraudulent Schemes and Artifices, a class 2 felony offense; Theft, a class 2 felony offense; and Theft, a class 5 felony offense.
Sikes became President of AZCPOA in 2016. In 2019, a criminal complaint was filed with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office (AGO) regarding possible stolen union funds. An AGO investigator discovered that between 2016 and 2019, Sikes spent at least $134,000 of union money on personal nonunion expenditures, including a vehicle and a patio.