Sheriff Joe Busts Three of His Own

There’s a well-known man here in the Maricopa County Sheriff’s office named Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who calls himself “America’s toughest sheriff.” When it comes to handling the inmates in his jail and dealing with illegal immigrants, he has zero tolerance for wrongdoers.

But even the toughest sheriff has to trust the people on his staff. He can’t be everywhere at once, nor do every step in every situation. He has to build a trusted staff. How it must have hurt when three of them betrayed not only him, but their badge and the state of Arizona as well.

"Unfortunately we had a deputy and two officers that became involved in an international drug and illegal immigration operation," said Sheriff Joe Arpaio. They were charged with trafficking in humans and inn drugs.

Arpaio said his office received a tip a year ago and initiated an investigation. One of the officers, Deputy Alfredo Navarrette, 37, In that time, Navarrette was followed as he made several trips to California delivering heroin and illegal immigrants. "This deputy was releasing information to the bad guys," Arpaio said, "which places my deputy sheriffs and volunteer posse in danger when enforcing illegal immigration and drug trafficking laws."

Navarette was caught with two illegal immigrants and $200,000 worth of heroin in his home. He had spent almost ten years working in the human smuggling unit of the Sheriff’s Department.

The other two officers were female prison guards Marcella Hernandez and Sylvia Najera. Hernandez had worked at the county’s largest jail, and was in charge of the women’s chain gang. She was charged with transporting drugs, money laundering and was held on $2 million bond. She is also pregnant with the child of a Mexican Sinaloa cartel “kingpin” named Francisco Arce-Torre. Najera was charged with similar offenses.

It’s got to be hard to know, now, who Arpaio will be able to trust. When people take an oath to be a law enforcement official, they promise to uphold the law. Apparently that meant very little compared to making some quick cash.