Mark Lamb got special treatment on sext claims, county attorney says

Prior county leadership and the elected Board of Supervisors did nothing to investigate allegations leveled publicly against Lamb in 2020, according to a report from County Attorney Brad Miller's office.

The former county attorney also failed to document Lamb's own request to investigate and possibly charge two women who were posting sexual images and messages they say the sheriff sent them, the June 5 report concluded.

No written reports, investigative summaries, witness interviews, case referrals or documented findings were filed, Miller's office found.

"Public officials are not entitled to a different standard of review because they are politically connected, personally popular, or institutionally protected," Miller's spokesperson, Christy Kelly, said in a statement. "Allegations involving elected leadership demand greater scrutiny — not less."

Miller's internal review was prompted by an Arizona Republic investigation, which found Lamb invited intimate encounters and indulged a yearslong habit of sexting that he later denied or sought to conceal, sometimes with threats or intimidation. He also made a racist joke about Black people being lazy when a border extremist messaged him the N-word, records show.

The Republic also detailed a series of misconduct claims a political rival made against Lamb in a complaint to county supervisors in 2020.

Lamb, who was sheriff from 2017 to 2024, is now running for Congress in the conservative southeast Valley on a traditional family values platform. He has President Donald Trump's endorsement.

Former Pinal County Attorney Kent Volkmer told The Republic that Lamb asked him to "explore" criminal harassment charges against two women to keep them from making online posts that started emerging in 2018.

Volkmer said his office did "a cursory investigation," which concluded Lamb was not the person featured in a photograph of an unidentified couple having sex. No charges were ever brought, he said.

Kelly said, "The absence of investigative records on both the allegations presented to the Board of Supervisors and the sheriff’s own request for investigation raises serious questions regarding the level of due diligence exercised by prior county leadership and the former County Attorney’s Office."

Miller did not respond to interview requests. Even a "cursory investigation" should have generated some kind of record or notes, Kelly said.

"The failure to document, investigate, or formally resolve serious allegations involving a high-ranking elected official undermines public confidence in county government and the justice system itself," she said.

Lamb has not responded to repeated interview requests or addressed detailed lists of allegations. His campaign in April called many of the claims against him "baseless and harmful" but offered no specifics — and neither Lamb nor his campaign has denied claims in The Republic's reporting since.

Intercourse photo: 'He told me it wasn't him'

Volkmer said the cursory investigation determined Lamb was not in the intercourse photo. How was the determination made?

"He told me it wasn't him," Volkmer said.

Volkmer never claimed his office generated any reports on Lamb's request. Just the opposite.

Volkmer said in April that Lamb sought an investigation, but it went no further than an inquiry. Volkmer said he was initially limited in the information he could provide to The Republic because of confidentiality rules.

But Lamb, on June 5, gave permission to share any and all details, Volkmer said.

Lamb, he said, approached his office sometime after 2018 about using the state's revenge porn law or pursuing criminal harassment charges against two women.

Volkmer said he was inclined to agree. He said he saw Lamb as a "victim" under the law. He told the sheriff that if he wanted to pursue a formal complaint, he would refer the case to an outside agency for investigation. Lamb declined, Volkmer said.

The two women — Tammy Peacock and Jillian Stannard — both accused Lamb of threatening them to stop them from posting and talking about nude pictures and explicit messages they say he sent. Peacock said Lamb threatened in a text exchange to have state police go after her. Stannard said Lamb got in her face and told her there would be consequences for reporting his conduct to LDS Church leaders.

Peacock claimed she had an intimate relationship with the sheriff before and after he was elected in 2016. Stannard said she found evidence in 2018 that Lamb had encouraged her husband to have sex with other women, including Lamb's wife. Both documented their claims with screenshots of photos and message exchanges that appeared to come from Lamb's phone and social accounts.

Among the images that women said Lamb shared: a close-up picture of a penis and an intercourse photo.

Volkmer said he never asked Lamb if he sent the sexually explicit photos and messages. From a legal standpoint, it didn't matter, he said. Even if it was Lamb in the intercourse photo, "that detail to me was not relevant" to the inquiry about revenge porn, Volkmer said.

The law doesn't prohibit consenting adults from sharing nude photos and messages. But it is a crime for one party to share the photos as a form of retaliation.

Volkmer said when Lamb declined to file a complaint, there was nothing left for his office to do. He dropped it.

Miller's office maintained that any inquiry by the elected sheriff should have been treated seriously.

"Requests for investigations by Sheriff Lamb should have been formally documented, appropriately reviewed, and, if necessary, referred out to avoid any appearance of bias or conflict of interest," Kelly said.

Lamb remains silent on sexual images, texts

Lamb, who is running on a platform of faith, family and freedom, spent Memorial Day weekend campaigning from his new $3 million home and ranch compound in Tennessee.

He has not publicly addressed the trove of sexual images and messages Peacock and Stannard shared.

He has previously denied having any relationship with Peacock or ever being alone with her. Peacock died in a 2021 traffic accident. In past media interviews, Lamb dismissed her as an unemployed, drug-addled woman with a criminal record. He described her as crazy and obsessed in his 2021 memoir.

The Republic conducted an extensive review of the messages. Many were sent from the same cell phone number that Lamb has used for years. They also came from a Facebook Messenger account linked to Lamb. The avatars and pictures in the messages matched his public-facing profile pictures at the time they were sent. Messages included Lamb's address at the time and details about his wife and family and their activities.

Other digital material obtained from a member of Lamb's first campaign team showed he exchanged sexually charged messages with multiple women after he was elected.

Some of Lamb's fellow Republicans have called for him to drop out of the race as high-profile sex scandals in California, Texas and Maine rock Capitol Hill.

Lamb's political rival for sheriff in 2020, a former Mesa pastor named Tim Gustafson, called out Lamb during a January 2020 meeting of the Pinal County Board of Supervisors.

Gustafson, who denounced Lamb as "immoral, unethical and criminal," offered Lamb's texts and messages and other documents as evidence to the board, a recording of the meeting showed. He accused Lamb of using his position to silence women.

Miller's office found no record of any action on the materials. Of the five-member Board of Supervisors from 2020, only two members — Mike Goodman and Stephen Miller — are still serving.

Stephen Miller said he doesn't trust Brad Miller. They are not related.

"Anything he puts down is a lie," the supervisor said on June 10, adding that he didn't pay attention to the report.

Stephen Miller acknowledged he was aware of the allegations against Lamb in 2020, but said he relied on the County Attorney's Office about how to proceed on public presentations, particularly involving legal matters.

He said Volkmer would have told the board if he believed it was worth pursuing.

"I would trust his judgment on any type of legal question that came up," Stephen Miller said.

County attorney wrapped up in claims over Lamb's alleged sexual activity

Brad Miller's office appeared to single out Volkmer for criticism over Lamb, repeatedly suggesting the former prosecutor failed to follow best practices.

"There is no indication that the allegations presented to the Board resulted in any documented investigation or investigative review by the prior County Attorney’s Office," Kelly said.

But Miller is also personally wrapped up in allegations surrounding Lamb's sexual behavior.

The chair of Arizona's Sex Offender Management Board filed a notice of claim against Miller in January. She accused the conservative prosecutor of workplace harassment, saying Miller had spread rumors that Lamb was a "swinger" and that Lamb had sent nude photos of himself to women.

Miller has denied those claims.

Miller's office said he is committed to restoring transparency, accountability and public trust.