Arizona sheriff officially charged with criminal contempt

PHOENIX (AP) — The longtime sheriff of metropolitan Phoenix was charged Tuesday with criminal contempt-of-court for ignoring a judge's order in a racial-profiling case, leaving the 84-year-old lawman in a tough spot two weeks before Election Day as he seeks a seventh term.

Prosecutors promised two weeks ago that they would charge Sheriff Joe Arpaio, but the misdemeanor count wasn't officially filed against him until U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton signed it.

The criminal charges stem from the profiling case that Arpaio lost three years ago that morphed into a contempt case after the sheriff was accused of defying a 2011 court order to stop his signature immigration patrols.

Snow disagreed, concluding Arpaio knowingly continued the patrols because he believed his immigration enforcement efforts would help his 2012 re-election campaign.

Arpaio ran a TV political ad last week saying the Obama administration's Justice Department planned to prosecute him because of its opposition to his immigration enforcement efforts.