Wolfswinkel office searched in Stapley probe

Indicted Maricopa County Supervisor Don Stapley was likely paid more than $1 million by companies connected to land developer Conley Wolfswinkel, according to a sheriff's affidavit that characterizes the case as a bribery investigation.

Sheriff's deputies on Thursday served a search warrant at the Tempe headquarters of Wolfswinkel-related companies as part of their ongoing investigation of Stapley, a Mesa Republican whose indictment on 118 criminal counts was announced last month.

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Wolfswinkel, who was convicted of fraud and conspiracy charges in 1993, is officially a consultant to companies owned primarily by his sons.

Stapley is charged with multiple counts of perjury, forgery and false swearing for failing to list land transactions and other business deals he is involved in on financial disclosure statements he is required to file. He has not been charged with bribery or fraud.

However, the affidavit filed by detective Pat Roshetko of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office seeking the search warrant states investigators are searching for evidence that Stapley used his position to benefit Wolfswinkel.

"In short - bribery or related crimes," the affidavit states.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio also issued a statement Thursday afternoon describing the investigation into possible bribery.

"Today's search warrant by Maricopa County Sheriff's deputies at the Tempe business address is relative to a new investigation of a bribery case involving Board of Supervisor member Don Stapley and businessman Conley Wolfswinkel," Arpaio said.

Sheriff's officials declined further comment.

Sheriff's investigators have determined that Stapley began receiving payments of $10,000 per month beginning in 2002 through a "partnership he had with Conley Wolfswinkel" related to land in Queen Creek, according to the affidavit.

A bookkeeper for Stapley's company, Arroyo Pacific Investments Inc., told detectives she received no documents to explain the payments and that she was unable to reconcile them with bank accounts.

Also listed in the affidavit are a series of payments that investigators believe were paid to Arroyo Pacific by a Wolfswinkel company, ABCDW LLC, beginning in 2003. All told, those payments would total almost $1.2 million.

Detectives could not definitively say all of the payments came from ABCDW because they have yet to receive complete records from Stapley's bank, according to the affidavit. But multiple payments of the same amount indicate they all came from Wolfswinkel companies, according to the affidavit.

For instance, Arroyo Pacific received a payment of $15,927.16 from ABCDW on July 6, 2007, according to the affidavit. Arroyo Pacific received a total of 32 payments in that identical amount - totaling about $509,000 - between December 2004 and July 2007.

While each transaction has not been fully documented, investigators allege all 32 payments did come from ABCDW.

The affidavit also lists three sets of similar payments that have yet to be fully documented.

Stuart Goodman, a spokesman for the Wolfswinkel companies, which operate under the umbrella of W Holdings, said there was nothing improper about any of their business dealings with Stapley. All of the land transactions they were involved in were properly documented in the county recorder's office, he said.

Though he would not discuss specific allegations in the sheriff's affidavit, Goodman did say Stapley received payments from Wolfswinkel companies through option agreements related to land sales. The terms of those agreements are similar to others involving land deals the Wolfswinkels are involved in with other companies unrelated to Stapley, Goodman said.

"All of these transactions occurred within the normal course of business," said Goodman, adding Stapley and Wolfswinkel went to high school together. "We continue to cooperate fully with the county sheriff's office and, given the nature of the issues, we really can't offer much more comment than that."

Goodman said no one connected with the Wolfswinkel companies ever tried to bribe Stapley or anyone else.

Tom Henze, Stapley's lawyer in the criminal case, could not be reached for comment.

Wolfswinkel's name was raised by Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas when he announced the indictment of Stapley last month, though no specific allegations of impropriety involving the longtime East Valley real estate investor have been made. Thomas has said Stapley should have disclosed his business dealings with Wolfswinkel so the public could know the kind of people the supervisor is involved with.

Wolfswinkel was among the largest real estate investors in Arizona and the East Valley until he filed personal and corporate bankruptcies amid the collapse of the real estate market in 1990. In July 1993, he was convicted of fraud and conspiracy in connection with a check-kiting scheme and was sentenced to five years' probation.

Though he is not listed as an owner in the various investment companies his family is involved in, he does act as a consultant. W Holdings now controls about 70,000 acres of land in the Valley and Tucson, according to an article published by the W.P. Carey School at Arizona State University when Wolfswinkel was a featured speaker at its Center for Real Estate Theory last year.

Documents related to the criminal case against Stapley have singled out three land purchases made by Stapley from companies connected to the Wolfswinkels.

In 2003, about 210 acres in Pinal County were purchased by Arroyo Pacific for $2.3 million, according to county records and documents from the criminal case. Much of that land was later sold back to the Wolfswinkel-related company that originally owned it.

In 2004, Stapley bought two parcels of vacant land in Pinal County, 80 acres for $1.38 million and 70 acres for about $1 million.

Those sales carried option agreements, giving the sellers the first rights to buy it back. To maintain those option agreements, the Wolfswinkel companies paid Stapley fees amounting to about 10 percent of the purchase price annually, according to court records related to the criminal case.

Earlier this month, sheriff's deputies interviewed Joan Stoops, a bookkeeper for Stapley's Arroyo Pacific Investments, according to the search warrant affidavit. Stoops confirmed Stapley received payments of about $10,000 per month from a "partnership" with Wolfswinkel related to land in Queen Creek.

Both Stapley and the Wolfswinkels own land near Hawes and Chandler Heights roads in Queen Creek, according to county records.

Stoops questioned Stapley about the deal, according to the affidavit.

"Why do you want to get in a partnership with Conley Wolfswinkel?" Stoops asked Stapley. "That's not too good for your reputation I wouldn't think."

"It was a good deal," Stapley replied, according to the affidavit quoting Stoops.

The search warrant gives deputies the power to examine all business records, computers and electronic data of the Wolfswinkel-related companies. It allows the investigators to attempt to restore data that might have been deleted from company computers to uncover evidence "which tends to establish that the crime of bribery and/or fraudulent schemes, has been committed."

Named in the warrant are Conley Wolfswinkel, his sons Ashton and Brandon, and business associate Kevin Petersen.