Sheriff Arpaio found in contempt of court over racial profiling case

A federal judge in Arizona found Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in contempt of court Friday, saying the controversial lawman deliberately violated court orders, hid evidence and failed to clean up after his department was found to be conducting illegal racial profiling.

“In short, the court finds that the defendants have engaged in multiple acts of misconduct, dishonesty, and bad faith,” Judge G. Murray Snow concluded in a withering 162-page document laying out the case against Sheriff Arpaio.

The controversial sheriff, who’s been in office for more than two decades, has made headlines in the past for investigating President Obama’s birth certificate and, more recently, for endorsing GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump.

The sheriff has also had repeated run-ins with federal authorities who say he’s violated civil rights with the way he’s run his department.

In the current case Judge Snow ruled Sheriff Arpaio’s deputies engaged in illegal racial profiling of Hispanics during traffic stops. The judge ordered the sheriff’s department to take steps to end the behavior, including ordering him to prohibit deputies from stopping people on the belief they may be in the country illegally.

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