No State Charges For Ex-Pima County Sheriff Who Embezzled

PIMA COUNTY, AZ — Former Pima County Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Christopher Radtke will not face additional charges in connection with the corruption scheme he pleaded guilty to three years ago and later served one year of probation. The Arizona State Attorney General's Office decided earlier this month not to pursue criminal charges against Radtke or any current member of the sheriff's department, Pima County Sheriff Mark Napier said.

"This dark chapter in the history of the Sheriff ’s Department is now closed," said Napier, who requested the Attorney General investigate in 2017 after Radtke pleaded guilty in federal court to six counts of theft for activity and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering on allegations he misused about $500,000 to fund cafés run by Radtke's niece at the Pima County Sheriff's Department and at the Pima County Jail among other uses, Tucson.com and others have reported.

The Attorney General's office investigation found that a state prosecution "would be based on substantially the same evidence and conduct as the prior federal case, but with no likelihood of a different result given Radtke's defenses" in declining to bring additional charges and citing double jeopardy.

Radtke was fined $3,000, ordered to 100 hours of community service and not to seek employment in law enforcement in Pima County ever again in addition to the year of probation as a result of the guilty plea.

The Attorney General report also "does not find criminal culpability on the part of existing members of the sheriff ’s department," Napier said.

It does detail what Napier described as "an elaborate multi-year scheme orchestrated by former employees" Radtke and Brad Gagnepain who has since died "to shield illegal and inappropriate" Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act expenditures between 2011 and 2016.

"They accomplished this by channeling funds to an account of the Sheriff ’s Auxiliary Volunteers to mask expenditures," Napier said.

"This included illegal or inappropriate expenditures to purchase personal items, support extravagant department ceremonies, and purchase items for a café."

Napier said he requested the state investigation in 2017 because "it became clear that there were still lingering concerns in the community and within the department that current/former members of the department may have escaped justice in this matter and/or that the federal investigation failed to address possible state corruption charges."

But the Attorney General's office said it was clear that the FBI's initial investigation already identified the RICO misappropriations and "there was no additional evidence of other frauds or personal embezzlement."

"Any proposed state charges would duplicate the federal charges and would be based on the same conduct and evidence that led to Radtke’s federal convictions."