Chris Nanos controversies resurface as Nancy Guthrie investigation continues

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos faces increased scrutiny as he searches for missing persons Nancy Guthrie It’s approaching the two-week mark, and has been under the public microscope before.

New reports and court records show the sheriff has been embroiled in controversy several times over the past decade.

In the weeks leading up to his 2024 re-election, which he won by 481 votes, Nanos placed his opponent, Heather Lapine, a lieutenant at the Pima County Jail, on administrative leave, ordering her not to discuss the reasons for his decision. As reported by Al-Wadi Al-Akhdar newspaper.

He did the same thing to Sgt. Aaron Cross, an outspoken opponent and president of the Pima County Deputies Organization.

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Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos speaks at a news conference about a shooting incident on the morning of January 27, 2026, involving a US Border Patrol agent. (Sarah Lapidus/The Republic/USA Today Network via Imagn Images)

Cross reportedly campaigned against Nanos, holding a sign on a street corner reading “MPs don’t want Nanos” just before putting him on leave. Nanos claimed that Cross campaigned against him while wearing official clothes issued by the… Pima County Police Department (PCSD) in violation of department rules, which Cross denied.

In a Federal lawsuitfiled against Nanos, Captain Juan Navarro and PCSD, Cross claims that “Nanos knowingly or negligently permitted an action against Plaintiff Cross that deprived Plaintiff Cross of the ability to contribute to conversations regarding matters of public concern, and failed to consider or understand the First Amendment right to freedom of expression on matters of public concern.”

In August, Lapin too I filed a lawsuit against Nanos, claiming that after she decided to run for office, “Sheriff Nanos and PCSD leadership launched a retaliatory campaign against Lieutenant Lapine’s career in order to undermine her candidacy.”

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The suit says Lapine volunteered to cover portions of the “General Instructor’s” school for another lieutenant who had a scheduling conflict. She has taught at the General Instructor School seven times previously, and has covered the same lieutenant several times.

FBI investigators search the Catalina Foothills in Tucson, Arizona, Wednesday, February 11, 2026, during their investigation into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. (DWS for Fox News Digital)

But the school officially required a master teacher to teach, which Lapin was not. Despite having covered the course before and despite her boss knowing the arrangement, Lapine was first disciplined for her actions after she announced her desire to run against Nanos, the suit says. The lawsuit says Nanos personally signed off on the disciplinary action, a move described as “atypical.”

She was then unexpectedly assigned to the Pima County Adult Detention Center, and said she received no explanation for the move.

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“The training center cover-up case marked the beginning of a broader effort by Sheriff Nanos and PCSD leadership to damage Lt. Lapin’s reputation and undermine her campaign,” the lawsuit says.

“Within weeks of submitting her statement of interest, Captain Anderson revoked Lieutenant Lapine’s teaching authority and transferred her command from the training center to the prison. Although described as a side move, this punitive transfer amounted to a reduction in responsibility, status and opportunity.”

The suit also says that after Lapine posted a photo of Cross’s protest on her campaign website, she was immediately placed on leave.

Finally, Nanos is accused in the lawsuit of sending a press release just weeks before the election notifying the public that Cross was on leave “to politically campaign while representing him.” [himself] As a member of a department under the color of authority, “that”[i]It is known that Sergeant Cross is cooperating with Lt. Heather Lappin in her campaign,” and that Lt. Lappin has been “questioned” regarding Sgt. Cross’s activities.

Nancy Guthrie, 84, has been missing from her home in Arizona since January 31, 2026. (Don Arnold/WireImage/Getty Images)

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According to the lawsuit, the statement also accused her of “collusion.”[ing] “with a journalist to facilitate payment of an inmate for a story” while she was working at the detention center, which Lapine denied.

“In total, Lieutenant Lapine has been referred to Internal Affairs five times since announcing her candidacy in 2023,” the lawsuit says. “Prior to her nomination, she had received one Internal Affairs referral in nearly eighteen years of service with PCSD.”

The Cross and Lapine cases are still ongoing.

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Shortly after the lanky Nanos won in 2024, the Pima County Board of Supervisors was formed They voted unanimously To conduct an independent investigation into whether Nanos was responsible for criminal wrongdoing during the election. This case was referred to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, but no charges were ever filed.

In 2022, a female PCSD deputy was allegedly sexually assaulted by a supervisor at a holiday party. The supervisor, Ricardo Garcia, was found not guilty of sexual assault in December 2024 but was convicted of two counts of attempted sexual assault and two counts of sexual assault. Garcia was sentenced to one year in prison and three years of probation.

In 2023, Pima County Deputy Organization Nanos claimed he did not investigate how the department’s leadership handled the investigation into the incident, which led to another referral for an independent investigation by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.

And again the office No criminal violations were found But she noted that the department may have violated several of its own rules.

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After the District Attorney’s Office released its report, the Pima County Board of Supervisors formally voted in favor of Nanos to explain the status of the internal investigation to the public.

In 2015, Nanos was named president of PCSD. He took over the position after the retirement of former Sheriff Clarence Dubnick and was running for election for the seat in 2016. But in the same year, The FBI began investigating Misuse of Civil Asset Forfeiture Funds Section.

In many cases, money police confiscate from criminals can be kept and spent on approved items such as more equipment needed for law enforcement.

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In October of that year, Chief Deputy Chris Radtke was indicted on federal charges and accused of using hundreds of thousands of dollars in wrongfully seized assets. Management also reportedly spent $20,000 to build a commercial kitchen to open a café run by Radtke’s niece. Radtke took a plea deal, agreeing to plead guilty to three misdemeanor counts of theft of government property. He did not go to prison.

Nanos was never charged.

During this investigation, Nanos opened fire Interview with KGUN During which he strongly rebuked the FBI.

FBI agents search homes near Nancy Guthrie’s home in Tucson, Friday, February 6, 2026. (Kat Ramirez for Fox News Digital)

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“When it came to the FBI investigation, I was as surprised by it as anyone,” he said. “This is an agency that has been known for years to deny or admit anything related to any type of investigation. They’re notorious for that.”

Nanos complained that the FBI assured a reporter that the department was under investigation despite what he saw as its penchant for secrecy. He said Andy Black, a former FBI assistant in charge in Tucson, called him and had a “benign” conversation.

“Am I upset with the FBI? Absolutely,” he said in the interview. “They just say ‘no comment.’ Who does that today? They think they’re fine with that. And when this is resolved and the case is over, I challenge Mr. Black to stand alone and say, ‘We looked at this investigation, and we absolutely find that this investigation is absolutely BS.’ Because that’s what it is. But you won’t hear that because they won’t confirm or deny.”

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He later quipped that if the FBI “is having problems conducting investigations…please call us because we have real cops here.”

Nanos lost election to sheriff that year but ran again and was elected in 2020.

during Guthrie investigationNanos was accused of slowing down the FBI’s involvement and wrongly shipping evidence to a private laboratory in Florida instead of the FBI’s headquarters in Quantico, Virginia.

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A member of the Pima County Sheriff’s Office remains outside Nancy Guthrie’s home on Monday, February 9, 2026 in Tucson, Arizona. (Ty O’Neill/AP Photo)

He denied both allegations in an interview with Fox News’ Matt Finn on Friday.

He tells Finn that investigators have been using the Florida lab since the beginning of the investigation and that the Guthrie family’s DNA, as well as other DNA, has already been sent there.

“Why split your evidence into two different labs can create conflict, but more importantly, it adds that extra step,” he said. “This lab has this piece, this lab has that piece. Now they have to put these two together to do a deletion or selection. No, just send it to one lab. Let’s go. They’re both great labs. They both have great equipment and smart people.”

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“We trust the FBI crime lab. We’ve used them before. But in this case, we started with this lab,” he said. “It’s that simple.”

Nanos also denied the allegation that his office delayed contacting the FBI for assistance in the case, saying he had no reason not to partner with the federal law enforcement agency, that it would be “absolutely crazy” not to do so and that his department and the FBI work well together. He said he contacted the FBI on February 2, the first business day after the investigation began.

Nanos did not return a request for comment.