PHOENIX — Maricopa County Supervisor Don Stapley has been indicted on more than 100 felony and misdemeanor charges, including perjury and forgery, alleging he failed to disclose his financial dealings.
The 118-count indictment made public late Tuesday charges that Stapley, a real estate broker, purposely hid multimillion-dollar parcels of land he owns in Maricopa and Pinal counties. State law requires all elected officials to make public virtually all of their holdings.
The indictment also alleges that Stapley failed to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal and business bank accounts, leadership positions in Arizona corporations, and various other financial holdings and dealings.
Stapley was informed of the indictment just 90 minutes before it was released to the public. No arrest warrant has been issued, with Stapley instead directed to appear in court this morning. But his lawyer, former state Attorney General Grant Woods, said he has been able to have that postponed for more than 10 days.
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Stapley, in a prepared statement, said he has been falsely accused of failing to properly complete the legally required financial disclosure forms.
"I'm shocked and disappointed that these accusations are being made," he said.
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas said it does not appear that Stapley's lapses were inadvertent. He said the list of business dealings that Stapley hid from the public goes back more than a decade.
Thomas acknowledged that the 118 counts in the indictment do not amount to 118 separate allegations of Stapley filing false disclosure reports. He said there are probably 25 or 30 separate acts. "It's not intended just to beef up things," he said. "It presents a jury with different ways of finding the defendant accountable."
