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Sheriff Paul Penzone: Office "fell short' when it came to investigating Southwest Key abuse claims

Published  January 7, 2019 9:17pm MST
Matt Rodewald's Reports
FOX 10 Phoenix

PHOENIX (FOX 10) -- Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone said his office fell short when it came to investigating abuse claims at Southwest Key.

On Monday afternoon, Sheriff Penzone outlined a timeline of the investigation, and addressed what he calls a "communication problem" in the department about the issue.

"It is no secret that this office has failed children in the past," said Sheriff Penzone, in a stunning admission that investigators closed a high-profile case when it shouldn't have.

"This was not dropped and left behind, the deputy, detective, sergeant along with his investigator, short time afterwards when they saw that these cases were listed as closed, opened up the investigation and continued," said Sheriff Penzone.

The incidents of abuse that have gone viral online happened on September 14, and that triggered a phone the next day and the case was opened. Subsequent interviews were done in the weeks and months that followed, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

On December 5, investigators closed the case without any intention of charging a crime, but they did so without consulting Sheriff Penzone. From there, after seeing the videos himself, Sheriff Penzone had the case reopened and forwarded to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.

"I'm not saying we know for a fact that we know that crimes were committed," said Sheriff Penzone.

All of the Southwest Key locations have been under the microscope, because of the issue of illegal immigration. The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the private organization that has collected nearly $2 billion over the last decade.

As of now, none of the six locations in Arizona can accept migrant children in their facility, but there have been questions about abuse at the hands of employees, and improper background checks to allow those workers there in the first place.

However, this latest development is a stunning admission of failure from Sheriff Penzone.

"I tell the staff here that I don't expect perfection, but I do demand excellence," said Sheriff Penzone. "We're going to have to continue to improve and rebuild, and become and agency that you can look at with pride, and that we're not letting things fall through the cracks."

Penzone noted he's short staffed by about 15%, and the two court mandates from Arpaio era have hamstrung his department. Prosecutors have not decided whether to file charges.

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