free guns for government goons??? Original Article Deputies seize weapons from Pinal manager Carl Holcombe The Arizona Republic Nov. 30, 2005 12:00 AM Pinal County sheriff's deputies seized $21,000 worth of sniper rifles and related equipment from County Manager Stan Griffis after he refused to return the weapons. Griffis said he bought the guns with county money last spring for the sheriff's volunteer posse. But the posse is not allowed to use such weapons. One sniper rifle remains unaccounted for, according to findings from a sheriff's investigation. Griffis said he never had the $3,000 gun, despite the purchase order obtained by the Sheriff's Office, and doesn't know where it is. Griffis, who is retiring in January after 16 years as county manager, has faced no punishment in the case. The Pinal County attorney said he was unaware of it until questioned by The Arizona Republic, as was the state Attorney General's Office. The Arizona Auditor General's Office has declined to investigate, citing a lack of staff. Pinal County Sheriff Chris Vasquez said Griffis never consulted him about purchasing the weapons using the posse's account. The account is funded by a small amount of annual county revenues and money the posse earns working security for events like the Country Thunder music festival. Griffis said he used money from the county's $1 million contingency fund to pay back the posse account. Griffis, a firearms trainer and volunteer posse member, said he considered the guns his "duty weapons." He never tagged or inventoried the equipment with the county and kept the weapons loaded and in his truck, county reports said. The Sheriff's Office began an investigation into the purchase after posse members began making allegations of embezzlement. Vasquez said he couldn't figure out why Griffis bought the guns because the volunteer posse members are barred from using such weapons on duty and Griffis can't train deputies because he isn't a sworn peace officer. "When you get into these kinds of rifles, they're used by snipers, and that's not the position I want the posse to be in," Vasquez said. "They don't have the training. We use SWAT for sniper rifles. We'll probably never use the posse for (that)." According to the investigation report released by the Sheriff's Office under the Arizona Public Records Law, "(T)hese expenditures had zero relation to any authorized duty or function of the (posse). . . . If the firearms and other items were not authorized for posse use, which was the original claim, then taking public money from other areas of the Pinal County budget for these expenditures was also a misuse." Griffis said he spent from April to August providing occasional training on the weapons to posse members. He said that posse members frequently accompany sworn deputies on patrol and that those rifle skills could be handy if a deputy is incapacitated. The investigation was completed in late October, and deputies were sent to Griffis' Gold Canyon home to retrieve the weapons, accessories and ammunition. Griffis said he has resigned from the posse and from firearms training for the posse. Posse coordinator Charles Higgins said the posse members are supposed to be backup personnel and have no need for high-powered weapons. "What's the need for rifles?" Higgins asked. "We're not SWAT." He said the posse account is not typically used to buy weapons. Posse members buy their own guns. Pinal County Attorney Carter Olson is reviewing Sheriff's Office reports on the matter after becoming aware of the situation this week, spokesman Chuck Teagarden said. Pinal County Supervisor David Snider said he still had not fully read the report. Supervisor Sandie Smith sent a Sept. 26 letter to the Auditor General's Office, about a month before the sheriff's investigation was done. The two-sentence letter asked for an expanded review of posse expenditures and county firearms inventory procedures but said nothing about the investigation, Griffis' purchase of the guns or why she was making such a request. County officials are reviewing their policies and procedures to see if policies were violated, Deputy County Manager Terry Doolittle said.