Stapley indicted over land deals, $10M loan

Maricopa County Supervisor Don Stapley was indicted on 118 criminal counts including perjury and forgery for concealing millions of dollars worth of land deals he is legally required to disclose, according to charges announced late Tuesday.

PDF: Read Stapley's public statement

PDF: Read Stapley's financial disclosure statement

Stapley is accused of hiding land deals in Maricopa and Pinal counties that span as far back as 1994, covering virtually his entire tenure on the board. Among the transactions singled out by prosecutors are a $10 million loan obtained by companies owned or controlled by Stapley, and land sales involving Conley Wolfswinkel, convicted in the early 1990’s of bank fraud.

Neither of those transactions was properly reported on personal financial disclosure statements Stapley is required to file annually with the Maricopa County Recorder, according to the charges.

Wolfswinkel, the patriarch of one of the East Valley’s biggest land-owning families, is not charged or accused of any wrongdoing in the indictment, which was announced at a 5 p.m. joint news conference with Sheriff Joe Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas.

“The investigation to date found Stapley failed to disclose multimillion-dollar parcels of land in Maricopa and Pinal County, hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal and business bank accounts, leadership positions in Arizona corporations, and many other financial holdings and dealings,” the statement issued by Thomas’ office states in characterizing the charges.

The news release also says the indictment of Stapley is the “culmination of the first phase of an investigation” that started in May by a joint task force between the county sheriff and attorney that focuses on cases involving public officials.

Stapley told the Tribune the charges are “baseless,” and that he has always obeyed state financial disclosure laws.

Stapley said he was notified of the indictment about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday — about 90 minutes before the news conference with Arpaio and Thomas began. Stapley has hired former state Attorney General Grant Woods as his attorney.

“I stand falsely accused of failure to disclose complete financial information,” Stapley said during a brief interview with the Tribune. “I’m shocked and disappointed that these accusations are being made.”

He later sent a written statement to the media in which he vowed to fight the charges.

“I cannot fathom where these accusations came from or what motivated them,” Stapley said in the written statement. “But if my integrity is being questioned, I assure you that I stand on my record of complete integrity and disclosure and will fight these allegations.”

State law requires all elected officials to disclose virtually all of their holdings so the public can identify potential conflicts of interest. However, the disclosure requirements are very broad. For instance, the $10 million loan cited by prosecutors would fall into the category of debts of more than $100,000 — the highest of three disclosure categories.

The indictment was issued by a grand jury Nov. 20, but not disclosed until Tuesday. Arpaio said the reason for the delay was that Stapley was out of the country and could not be served with the indictment.

Among the accusations leveled by prosecutors is that Stapley failed to properly disclose loans obtained by three companies he owned or controlled totaling approximately $10 million. Stapley personally guaranteed the loans when they were refinanced, according to the charges. He defaulted on one of the loans in 2008, according to prosecutors.

All three of the companies are listed in Stapley’s most recent financial disclosure statement. The statement does not indicate Stapley recently defaulted on any loans, which were used for two parcels of property.

Thomas said it does not appear that Stapley’s lapses were inadvertent.

Thomas specifically pointed to a business deal by Stapley in the purchase of two parcels of land owned by members of the Wolfswinkel family. The parcels were purchased in 2004 for a total of more than $2.3 million.

The county attorney said he presumes that Stapley hid that purchase because he did not want his constituents to know he was involved in a deal with a convicted felon.

Wolfswinkel was convicted in 1993 on federal fraud and conspiracy charges related to a check-kiting scheme involving nearly $200 million.

Lee Johnson, an attorney for Vanderbilt Farms and other companies owned by the Wolfswinkel family, said late Tuesday that he is familiar with two recent sales of property by a Wolfswinkel company to Arroyo Pacific Investments, Stapley’s company. One involved about 80 acres near Arizona Farms Road and the Hunt Highway; the other about 80 acres south of the town of Maricopa, Johnson said.

The transactions were all properly documented, he added.

“These transactions were documented by deeds in the county recorder’s office,” Johnson said. “We have always presumed Mr. Stapley complied with whatever disclosure obligations he had.”

Conley Wolfswinkel is a consultant to companies owned by his two sons and other family members, Johnson said.

The indictment also says that Stapley lied on a loan application by checking “no” when asked if any of his businesses had ever been involved in bankruptcy. But Thomas said Stapley was cited by the Arizona Department of Real Estate for failing to disclose on his application for a real estate broker’s license that his company, Val Vista Lakes, had filed for protection from creditors.

Thomas said nothing found so far suggests that Stapley used his position as a county supervisor for his own financial benefit. But he said the investigation is continuing.

Arpaio said additional charges could be filed against one or more county employees.

Arpaio said his investigators went to the offices of the clerk of the Board of Supervisors on May 27 asking for information about Stapley. The sheriff said the employees there were told not to disclose the request.

Yet the very next day, Arpaio said, Stapley filed amended financial disclosure forms.

The sheriff said charges may be filed if someone improperly leaked the information to the supervisor.

“You may say that’s just a coincidence,” Arpaio said. “I don’t think so.”

Capitol Media Services contributed to this story.