For over 10 years reporters and Village Voice co-owners Jim Larkin and Michael Lacey were trying to bring the attention of the nation to the activities of Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona. They published factual stories exposing Arpaio’s racial profiling of Latinos, the illegal detention of U.S. citizens as illegal immigrants, the horrid treatment of prisoners in his custody- especially women and Latinos- and his bending and breaking of the law to keep these things quiet. Read more: https://thenewsversion.com/2018/03/larkin-lacey-speak-happened-joe-arpaio/ and http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/potmsearch/detail/submission/6427427/Jim_Larkin
As Larkin and Lacey kept digging, Arpaio decided to do something about them. He formed a Grand Jury on false pretenses to investigate them in secret. The two found out that Arpaio had formed a secret Grand Jury, though not what the Grand Jury was investigating. They ran a story about it, still unaware they the targets, and found themselves arrested on the night of October 18th, 2007 for revealing the details of a Grand Jury investigation.
The charges were dismissed and the Grand Jury was found to be formed on false pretenses. After 24 days in prison Larkin and Lacey were released. They brought a successful lawsuit against the county, winning a $3.7 million settlement.
Larkin and Lacey didn’t keep the money: They used it to begin the Frontera Fund, a charity dedicated to protecting the civil rights of citizens and immigrants to Arizona. Frontera focuses on cases involving Latinos, the group most harshly impacted by Arpaio’s policies.
On a wave of public outcry against his policies and the settlement he cost the county, Arpaio lost his bid for a seventh term as Sheriff of Maricopa County in 2016. He tried to present this as a “retirement.” Few were fooled by this, as Arpaio’s own trial began shortly afterward and he was found guilty. President Donald Trump pardoned Arpaio.
Many feel Arpaio’s pardon was the result of political games. Before Trump even had the Republican Party nomination, Arpaio came out as one of his first supporters and endorsed Trump early in the primaries. Arpaio is seen as having a keen eye for politics and believed. correctly, that Trump would win. Read more: Michael Lacey | Crunchbase and Phoenix New Times | Wikipedia
Many feel that this early endorsement was an attempt to get on Trump’s “good side” early on. Arpaio may have known he had a guilty verdict coming and wanted to get the favor of who he saw as being the next President. Trump has since endorsed Arpaio for Senate in 2018.