Original Article Marana mayor, friend indicted in extortion plot A.J. Flick Tucson Citizen Apr. 23, 2005 12:00 AM A federal grand jury indicted Marana Mayor Bobby Glenn Sutton and a friend Friday on charges of conspiracy and attempted extortion in connection with a scheme to blackmail the country's largest garbage hauling company. Sutton, 35, is accused of using his power to force Waste Management, a multistate company based in Texas, to hire Richard "Rick" Arthur Westfall without giving him any real job, according to the indictment. If Waste Management refused the men's demands of up to $60,000 a month for Westfall, the pair planned to use Sutton's position to make the company's business suffer, the indictment said. Westfall, 43, also was charged with making false statements. Both Westfall and Sutton live in Marana. Westfall once worked for CSU Transportation Inc., which hauled garbage from Waste Management's Marana transfer station. Westfall claimed in a 2002 lawsuit that CSU fired him after he complained to the Arizona Department of Public Safety that trucks were leaving the station grossly overweight. "This is the first time in the history of our country that the federal government has indicted a public official who wasn't trying to get any financial benefit, but was just standing up for a constituent who was a whistleblower," said Sutton's attorney, Michael Piccarreta. Piccarreta said Waste Management and FBI Special Agent Clifford Goodman have "created a crime when none existed." Westfall's attorney, Stephen M. Weiss, had not seen the indictment Friday afternoon and couldn't say much. "We are going to defend this case vigorously, I can tell you that," Weiss said. Piccarreta is familiar with Goodman after clashing with him over the investigation of former Tucson police Detective Joseph Godoy, who was cleared of allegations that he lied in two death-penalty trials. At the time, Piccarreta called Goodman "a rogue agent conducting a witch hunt." Goodman was transferred to St. Croix in the Virgin Islands in 2002. Neither Westfall nor Sutton returned calls seeking comment. "Mayor Sutton has a million comments he would like to make," Piccarreta said. "But I've instructed him not to make any public comments until we get to court." Sutton, who became Marana's first directly elected mayor in 1999, did issue a statement maintaining his innocence. Marana Town Manager Michael A. Reuwsaat issued a statement backing Sutton's actions in defending Westfall as a whistleblower. "The town is not aware of any evidence that the mayor ever demanded or received payment or anything of value," the statement read. Former Marana Town Manager Mike Hein, now Tucson's city manager, said the indictments surprised him. "The town has very little interaction with Waste Management because the town doesn't do waste," Hein said. "This is a little bit of a mystery to me," Hein said. "I'm anxious to see what the facts are." "What role could the mayor have played? What powers does the mayor have that would lead a company like Waste Management to feel pressure?" Hein said. "The powers of mayors are very limited in towns. They set the agenda for council meetings and break ties. And there were very few ties to break."