TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — In 2022, Sergeant Ricardo Garcia allegedly sexually assaulted a female deputy when he was her supervisor. The incident happened at a party when he was off duty.
"My role is to not just protect the integrity of the case but to prevent this victim from being re-victimized,” Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said.
On Tuesday, the Pima County Board of Supervisors is going to discuss Nanos’ handling of the situation at their board meeting.
Nanos feels like the supervisors bringing up the incident again is going to re-victimize the woman who was sexually assaulted.
The Pima County Deputies Organization alleges that PCSD refused to intervene for over eighty minutes.
Nanos said the department arrested Garcia and he was fired immediately.
Last September, the Pima County Board Of Supervisors asked the Attorney General's Office to do their own investigation after Nanos was accused of failing to conduct a "timely and thorough investigation" for the incident.
The Arizona Attorney Generals Office sent a letter to Pima County Administrator Jan Lesher, saying they did not find any criminal wrongdoing on Sheriff Nanos's part but they are worried about four different violations.
That letter said the deputies handling the situation gave little to no assistance and some failed to report it right away.
Nanos said he's confident in his decision.
"This sheriff knows what he's doing. I've been doing it for almost half a century,” Nanos said.
However, he feels like the Board of Supervisors bringing up the incident and his handling of it is politically motivated, especially because it’s during election season.
"If they really wanted to know about this case, the time to invite the sheriff to their board to explain himself would've been before they asked for an investigation,” he said.
Nanos said he was never told about the case being on the agenda for Tuesday’s board meeting.
Emails between Nanos and Chair Adelita Grijalva and other county officials including Supervisor Steve Christy detail Nanos saying the timing is suspicious. A representative for Christy confirmed he is invited to the meeting.
Garcia’s trial is set for December. Nanos said he is willing to talk with the Pima County Board of Supervisors but said it has be in executive session once the election is over.
"I am not going to politicize this case. I have been steadfast…we're just not going to do that,” Nanos said.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
