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By Joshua Rhett Miller
Senior Reporter
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The Arizona sheriff leading the search for Nancy Guthrie misstates his law enforcement employment history on his public resume, records show.
Documents obtained by The Arizona Republic revealed late Monday that Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos resigned in lieu of termination from the El Paso Police Department in 1982—two years earlier than he indicates on his resume, which is posted on the agency's website.
Nanos, who started his law enforcement career in 1976, resigned from his hometown police department in Texas six years later to avoid being terminated following a lengthy list of disciplinary issues, including insubordination, excessive force, off-duty gambling and tardiness, according to records cited by the outlet.
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The sheriff declined to discuss the discrepancy on Monday.
"That’s your ‘urgent’ request? You sure you don’t want to go back to my high school and ask why I got swats from the principal?" Nanos wrote to the newspaper in an email. "Good luck with your hit piece."
The Pima County Sheriff's Department has since acknowledged "two clerical errors" in Nanos’ publicly posted resume.
"Both date discrepancies were administrative in nature and were not intended to mislead or misrepresent Sheriff Nanos' work history,” department officials told Newsweek in a statement Tuesday afternoon. "For clarity, Sheriff Nanos served with the El Paso Police Department from 1976 to 1982. His service with El Paso PD concluded in 1982, not 1984 as previously stated. Additionally, Sheriff Nanos was promoted to the rank of captain in 2007, not 2009."
Nanos’ resume, which remains posted online, has been updated to reflect the change, sheriff officials said.
“Sheriff Nanos has dedicated more than four decades to law enforcement and public service,” the statement concluded. “Throughout his career, he has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to professionalism, accountability, and the safety of the communities he serves. As sheriff of Pima County, he continues to lead the department with experience, integrity, and a clear focus on protecting the residents of Pima County."
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The revelation comes amid heightened scrutiny for Nanos as he oversees the agency's search along with federal partners for Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today show host Savannah Guthrie, who has repeatedly pleaded for her safe return. She was reported missing on February 1, one day after she was last seen at her Tucson home.
Nanos, who has been criticized by former FBI agents for insisting investigators were "definitely getting closer" to solving the case, has conceded that his moment in the national spotlight has been difficult at times.
"I'm not used to everybody hanging on my words and then trying to hold me accountable for what I say," Nanos told reporters during a news conference last month.
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Nanos, who initially wanted to become a lawyer, majored in public administration and criminal justice at the University of Texas at El Paso, according to his resume. The document also details his 39-year tenure at the Pima County Sheriff's Department.
"As the chief law enforcement officer in Pima County my duties are delineated pursuant to A.R.S. § 11-441, I am responsible
for preserving the peace and safety in the 9,187 square miles of unincorporated areas of the county; for the custody and
control of the county jail and care of prisoners; serving the superior court orders and warrants throughout the county; the
collection of delinquent taxes; and the conducting or coordinating within the county of search and rescue operations involving the life or health of any person," Nanos wrote.
As Pima County sheriff, Nanos also oversees a multimillion-dollar budget and a department of nearly 1,400 employees and more than 400 volunteers.
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Nanos has also served as the department's chief deputy and chief of the investigative bureau, among other positions. Prior to joining the agency, he worked at the El Paso Police Department from 1976 until 1984, according to his resume.
Nanos started his career as a police officer in El Paso in February 1976, records cited by The Arizona Republic show. He was later promoted to detective, according to his resume, but a date isn't specified and documents obtained by the newspaper list him as an officer and patrolman.
Nanos was named Officer of the Year-Western Region by the Combined Law Enforcement Association of Texas in 1980 after saving his partner's life during an incident in 1979. But his success was short-lived, as he was ordered to resign or be terminated after an argument with supervisors in 1982, The Arizona Republic reported.
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"Insubordination" and "consistent inefficiency" were listed as the reasons for Nanos' departure, records show. He disagreed with his supervisors over a patrolmen's right to confiscate fraudulent license plates, according to an El Paso Times story from 1982. Nanos didn't believe the officer could, The Arizona Republic said.
Nanos had also been suspended or placed on leave without pay for a total of 37 days during his time at the El Paso Police Department, according to the report.
Some of the infractions noted in Nanos' disciplinary records included alleged use of excessive force, a shot fired, off-duty gambling, tardiness and failure to report for duty, among other violations. He also had 26 allegations listed on his internal affairs history record during a five-year period, records show.
Nanos had also been suspended by El Paso police for 15 days without pay in March 1982 after he allegedly injured a robbery suspect during an arrest, but a grand jury declined to indict him, according to local news reports cited by The Arizona Republic.
It's unclear what Nanos did after resigning from the El Paso Police Department in 1982, two years earlier than his public resume indicates. He started working as a corrections officer for the Pima County Sheriff's Department in 1984, the document shows.
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