Lawyer Conducting Maricopa Ethics Probe Says He Was Tailed
Private investigators are the stuff of movie legend and real-life divorce battles, but apparently they are also being used to track a lawyer conducting an ethics probe in Arizona’s Maricopa County.
The Arizona Republic has the latest twist in ongoing controversies involving onetime County Attorney Andrew Thomas, who teamed up with the county sheriff to file a racketeering suit against several judges and other officials that was later withdrawn amid accusations of political harassment.
John Gleason, the Colorado lawyer appointed by the Arizona Supreme Court to investigate ethics claims against Thomas and Deputy County Attorney Lisa Aubuchon, tells the newspaper that he had some company while in Phoenix last year: private investigators who were tracking his movements.
A lawyer defending Aubuchon in the state bar ethics inquiry confirmed he hired PIs to check Gleason out, but one of the investigators, Joseph Petrosino, tells the newspaper that he didn’t tail Gleason—he just conducted a background check.
The PI’s findings: Gleason works for the Colorado Supreme Court and he was hired by Arizona’s top court to investigate the misconduct claims—information that was already part of the public record, the Arizona Republic story says. He also determined that Gleason was staying at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa.
The newspaper examined billing records and found that Petrosino charged a little more than $2,000 for his work, while another investigative firm was paid close to $1,000.
Dennis Wilenchik is the lawyer representing Aubuchon, and the county is paying his fees. “We wanted to know what [Gleason] was up to,” he told the Arizona Republic. “There’s nothing illegal about it. We have the right to conduct our own investigation. … We have the right to protect our client to find out what the investigator’s doing. We haven’t done anything to intimidate him.”
Additional coverage:
ABA Journal: “The Maricopa Courthouse War”
