A court-ordered audit found the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office misattributed or misappropriated roughly 72 percent of about $226 million it billed to a federal racial profiling settlement over a decade, according to investigators hired by a court monitor.
The review examined spending from February 2014 through late September 2024 tied to the Ortega Melendres case, which stemmed from a 2007 lawsuit over discriminatory traffic stops of Latino drivers. Auditors concluded only about $63 million was appropriately charged to compliance efforts.
Investigators identified about $144 million in personnel costs shifted to the settlement fund, including salaries for jobs unrelated or only partly related to court-ordered reforms. Expenses flagged as improperly billed included golf carts, horses, tasers, jet fuel and office renovations.
The ACLU of Arizona said the sheriff’s office had inflated reform costs to argue that constitutional oversight was unaffordable. Maricopa County officials had approved more than $350 million in settlement-related spending since 2013. The audit also faulted county supervisors for providing what reviewers called insufficient oversight of the department’s billing practices.
The Melendres lawsuit began after Latino drivers sued over traffic stops in 2007, leading to a 2013 ruling requiring documented stops and increased oversight. Federal Judge G. Murray Snow ordered the independent audit after the sheriff’s office failed to produce detailed receipts when pressed for documentation. County officials had publicly complained that monitoring costs exceeded $30 million since 2014.
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Sources:
https://dailycuratednews.substack.com/p/news-headlines-may-22-2026