YUMA — A municipal court judge is on temporary paid suspension because of misconduct, and the Arizona Supreme Court is considering a 60-day unpaid penalty.
Magistrate Rosendo Morales of the San Luis Municipal Court acknowledged the misconduct and agreed with the discipline proposed by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct, said Keith Stott, executive director of the commission. The judge has been on suspension since Jan. 24.
According to the commission, Morales gave a man a temporary restraining order against his live-in girlfriend, then dismissed it at the formal hearing when both appeared.
Morales admitted flirting with the woman over the telephone several times in the weeks after the hearing, telling off-color jokes and exchanging intimate sexual information.
Neither the woman nor the man was identified in the legal papers.
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The couple had a child, and Morales admitted meeting with the woman and the young boy at the courthouse, the commission said. At the meeting, he told the boy he would put him in jail if he didn't listen to his mom. The father was not notified of the meeting.
Morales will serve the unpaid suspension if the Supreme Court upholds the commission's decision, Stott said. The high court could impose a lesser penalty, leave it intact or even remove the judge from office. A decision could come in two to eight weeks.
Officials in San Luis, where Morales has been a judge since 1999, said they want the judge to return.
"We support Judge Morales completely and give him the benefit of the doubt," said Jennifer Cisneros, a spokeswoman for the city of San Luis. "We believe everyone deserves a second chance."
Morales did not return calls to his home and cell phones seeking comment Tuesday.
Cisneros said former Somerton Justice of the Peace Manny Figueroa will serve as city magistrate during Morales' suspension.
