Trump-endorsed sheriff’s former office says he got special treatment in misconduct probe

The Republican-run Pima County Attorney's Office issued a report that Sheriff Mark Lamb got special treatment when it came to sexual misconduct and other allegations.

Lamb, who is running for Congress in Arizona's Fifth District, was never investigated for the 2020 allegations under the previous county leadership and the Board of Supervisors, but GOP County Attorney Brad Miller's office did, the Arizona Republic said.

"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 report said, citing a report filed on June 5.

According to Miller's office, there were "no written reports, investigative summaries, witness interviews, case referrals or documented findings" by the previous office.

"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 to the Republic. "Allegations involving elected leadership demand greater scrutiny — not less."

The Arizona Republic did its own investigation into Lamb, who has a "year-long habit of sexting" and allegations that he "preyed on women."

The investigation came after the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was told about Lamb when a woman came forward to church elders with allegations, the report said.

A report at the end of May exposed the LDS church for promising the accuser that they'd "take care of this." It never happened.

Jillian Stannard alleged that Lamb upended her marriage and that of another woman who worked for the county both before and after he was elected to the sheriff's office. Among the allegations against Lamb are those involving wife-swapping.

"One of the women said the sheriff told her he would send state police after her if she didn't stop posting about their relationship. She supported those claims with screenshots of texts and social media messages," the Republic reported last month.

After Stannard reported Lamb to the church, she said he "got in her face" to bully her into silence.

"He approached me, pointed in my face and firmly said, 'I have a bone to pick with you,'" Stannard said of Lamb.

Stannard refused to engage and he allegedly followed up via text message.

In a 2018 email to the elders, Stannard alleged, "He messed up my life so badly. I no longer trust anyone. My faith has been unmovable until recently. I'm reaching out to you for help."

The Republic published screen captures of Stannard's text messages at the time.

The new report indicates the sexual harassment allegations as well as claims that Lamb made racist comments, claiming Black people were lazy, when a border extremist used the N-word in a message, the records show.

The report noted that it's a very different person that Lamb has been in public and he's still on track to win the Republican Primary with President Donald Trump's endorsement.

"Lamb and his wife cultivated the image of a churchgoing power couple and touted family values while engaged in explicit photo exchanges, secret liaisons, sexting and casual affairs," the report said, citing Stannard.

She said that the evidence of it was all over her husband's phone and computer.

The ordeal began in 2017 when Stannard sdaid Lamb was at a farmers market and was showing off photos of his genitals. A friend told her what it was as Lamb worked the crowd for votes. "I thought she was kidding. I asked Mark if it really was and he said it was. I thought he was kidding, too, until he turned his phone and showed me."

Lamb denies all of the allegations.

"The campaign is aware that various false, misleading, and potentially defamatory allegations have circulated online for years," said Andrew Gould, a Phoenix lawyer and former Arizona Supreme Court justice, in a letter to The Arizona Republic. "They are repeated without verification and often to only cause great reputational and political harm."

Arizona's 12 News reported this week that Lamb has seemingly disappeared from the congressional campaign.

"Where is Mark Lamb?" the anchors asked. Lamb "has been under fire over allegations of sexting and wife swapping."

The other anchor alleged, "Lamb has been literally invisible on the campaign trail, but 12 News journalist Bram Resnick tells us he's been very busy at his new ranch in Tennessee." He also referred to Lamb as an "absentee candidate." The funding for the new Tennessee ranch is also raising questions, Resnick said.

The GOP primary in Arizona is set for July 21.

Lamb has become an online influencer by uploading videos of encounters on the job. Frank Sloup, a content creator and deputy sheriff, uploads police videos and does body camera breakdowns, and has done "ride-alongs" with Lamb, whom he praises for his police work and his ability to speak Spanish.