Officer Connections and Misconduct

All of the officers involved in this incident were handpicked and purposefully selected due to their personal connections with Shawn Braaten. Laborious and tedious hours of research have garnered evidence that these officers are anything but professional and honorable. In the Lee incident, their motive of protecting family at all costs is clear, and they proved that they make their own rules rather than adhere to and uphold the ones they swore to upon being hired with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. Research has shown that this is their norm rather than the exception, and this corruption has been going on for years.

Over the duration of the Lee incident, there were two separate Internal Investigations that were opened as a result of officer misconduct (IA2018-0457, IA2019-0323) that were started by the County Attorney (Catherine Ferguson-Gilbert) and by Sarah Lee, respectively. These internal investigations were handled by MCSO’s Professional Standards Bureau, which Shawn Braaten was working as a Lieutenant for at the time. Due to the “conflict of interest” caused by Sarah’s complaint, Sarah’s investigation (IA2019-0323) was outsourced to Investigative Research, Inc., which is still being funded by MCSO. During Sarah’s first meeting with Investigator Pamela Wallace, Pamela disclosed with her recorder turned off, that she knew Shawn Braaten, and had shook his hand when working on other cases before (listen to audio recording below). Unbeknownst to Pamela, and for purposes exactly like this, Sarah was also recording the meeting and has audio documentation of this admittance by Pamela.

“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of the darkness, but rather expose them. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.”

Ephesians 5:11,13

The following is a list of the officers involved in the Lee incident (CR2017-135414), badge numbers, accounts of their misconduct, and their connections to Jacob Rector’s uncle, Shawn Braaten.

Jerry Broadwater- S1828

Involved in the following Internal Investigation:

IA2019-0323 (yet this is not noted in any of Broadwater’s personnel records)

Was initially assigned as the case agent, but was reassigned to work directly under Shawn Braaten (Braaten was his direct supervisor) in MCSO’s Professional Standards Bureau 3 months after the Lee incident, even though he had no qualifications to work there.

This promotion “coincidentally” happened right after DJ videoed Broadwater following him and his kids around in Costco and told the prosecutor about it.

While working at PSB, he had lunch with Shawn Braaten and openly discussed this case without properly documenting the conversation, which violated policy (see audio recording below). Broadwater later denied this in DJ’s Civil Service Board hearing with the City of Phoenix.

Previously worked with Shawn Braaten in MCSO’s K9 unit.

Had a personal relationship with Jacob Rector:

Lived a few miles from Jacob and saw him in the community, in addition to shopping at Fry’s grocery store where he worked.

Came into Fry’s one evening and spoke with Sarah directly where he disclosed that he knew Jacob, commented about Jacob’s new car, and how he specifically told Jacob to “keep an eye on [his] daughter’s while they were in the store shopping.”

In fact, Broadwater lied under oath during DJ’s Civil Service Board hearing when he was questioned about having a personal relationship with Jacob. He initially said that he did not know him, but then defensively admitted to knowing him stating that “just because [he] know[s] him, doesn’t mean [he] can’t still do [his] job.”

Refused to turn over Jacob’s medical records despite being requested multiple times by the prosecutor.

Admitted in an interview with the prosecutor (Ms. Ferguson-Gilbert) and DJ’s attorney that Jacob did not have any injuries, and certainly no evidence of strangulation as Jacob had been making accusations of (see audio recording below). Additionally, when questioned as to why a nurse's exam was not performed to evaluate Jacob for strangulation, Broadwater gave the excuse that his sergeant (Sgt. Hanson) told him to only conduct an exam in cases of domestic violence (DV), although there is not a MCSO policy that states that (see audio recording below).

Admitted in the same interview with Ms. Ferguson-Gilbert and DJ's attorney that Jacob’s actions at the Lee residence could be classified as trespassing, yet Detective Broadwater never filed trespassing charges against Jacob (see audio recording below). Additionally, Sarah’s requests to file trespassing charges against Jacob in 2017, 2018, and 2019 were all denied by MCSO.

Refused to take Jacob’s phone into evidence. Instead he took photographs of text messages and allowed Jacob to not only keep his phone during his interviews, but also allowed him to send and receive text messages during the interview (listen to audio recording on “The Only Aggressor” page). He also did not submit a supplemental report when he found text messages that were deleted off of Jacob’s phone, but were still showing on Sarah’s phone.

Started an internal investigation (IA2018-0457) regarding Detective Albert Bouchard intentionally deleting Sarah’s 2nd interview with MCSO and the prosecutor (Catherine Ferguson-Gilbert). Broadwater was coerced into filing the complaint by DJ’s attorney (listen to audio recording on “The Only Aggressor” page), yet the prosecutor, Catherine Ferguson-Gilbert, was listed as the “official complainant”. She can be heard in her interview with PSB (Professional Standards Bureau) stating that she did not want to file the complaint (see video recordings). Additionally, when Detective Broadwater filed the complaint through PSB, he copied Braaten on it; therefore, there is no way that Braaten could plead ignorance to knowing that there was a conflict.

Lied to Sarah when he was the case agent in that he called Sarah’s sister in law looking for Sarah because he said he had “personal property to release” to Sarah. When Sarah contacted him back, he said he did not have any personal property to release, but rather he wanted to ask further questions about the incident. Detective Broadwater additionally violated policy in that he did not document this interaction in a supplement anywhere.

Took DJ’s DNA for a THIRD TIME (with Detective Tyler Thompson) for the reason stating that he needed a sample that he “could control.” He additionally violated procedures in that he did not notify DJ’s attorney prior to just showing up at DJ’s house with a warrant to take his DNA.

Important to note that DJ’s DNA was taken previously by Detective Steve Horath the day of the incident and then again at the jail.

Not only was Detective Broadwater taking DJ’s DNA a 3rd time completely unnecessary, but he never actually ran or used the DNA sample.

Additionally, DJ’s fingerprints were taken twice because the tech “messed up” when doing it the first time. When the tech went to throw the prints away, another tech came over and took them out of the trash, examined them, and then said that she thought she could still use them. It was only after this that DJ’s fingerprints magically appeared on Jacob’s vehicle even though DJ never touched his vehicle, and after Jacob’s car sat outside all night after one of the worst storms Phoenix had had for the year at the time.

Albert Bouchard- S1794

Involved in the following Internal Investigations:

IA2014-0490

IA2014-0730

IA2016-0543

IA2017-0349

IA2017-0425

IA2017-0743

IA2018-0457

IA2019-0323

Was currently under internal investigation (IA2017-0349) when assigned as case agent. This investigation was signed off by Shawn Braaten.

Was the only detective not on scene that day of the alleged incident. This is an important part of MCSO’s strategy, in that any time Detective Bouchard was questioned about events in the case, his response was always, “I cannot speak to that,” since he was not physically on scene.

Was present at both of the interviews that Sarah had with the prosecutor (Catherine Ferguson-Gilbert in January 2018 and February 2018).

After the 1st interview, Detective Bouchard told Sarah in private that he thought his batteries may have run out on his recorder.

Detective Bouchard intentionally deleted the 2nd interview, stating that the reason he did it was because he did not feel any new information had been presented, yet during this interview Sarah disclosed all of the bias and connections with Jacob’s uncle Shawn Braaten. Detective Bouchard’s story for the reason he deleted the interview changed several times, and at one point he said it was “an accident”.

Detective Bouchard was placed under internal investigation after a complaint was filed by the prosecutor (Ms. Ferguson-Gilbert for the deletion of the interview (IA2018-0457).

See video recordings of Bouchard and the prosecutor during their interviews with PSB to hear not only how PSB coached Bouchard into saying it was an accident, but also how the prosecutor stated that she felt MCSO and MCAO (Maricopa County Attorney’s Office) were on the same team and how this could lead to a not guilty verdict if it went to trial.

Bouchard was ultimately only suspended for 8 hours, but he was additionally placed on the Brady List for his misconduct. (See abc15 article below)

https://www.abc15.com/news/local-news/investigations/brady-list/database-abc15-finds-1-800-officers-on-az-brady-lists

Important to note that not only was Bouchard NEVER taken off the case as the case agent, but this investigation took over 2 YEARS to complete and is the reason that DJ was refused his right to go to trial, which is a violation of this 6th Amendment Constitutional Right. This is well over the time frame outlined in MCSO’s own policy on completing internal investigations (see link on “Resources” page). In fact both former MCSO Sheriff Joe Arpaio and current Sheriff Paul Penzone were both held in contempt for failure to comply with this policy and having a ridiculous back log of investigations.

See articles on Paul Penzone contempt and Judge Snow Order:

https://www.aclu.org/cases/ortega-melendres-et-al-v-arpaio-et-al

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2017/07/31/maricopa-county-sheriff-joe-arpaio-found-guilty-criminal-contempt-court/486278001/

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2022/11/09/judge-orders-penzone-mcso-reduce-internal-investigation-backlog/8319226001/

Wrote the 2nd and 3rd warrants for Sarah’s iPhone (the 1st warrant was written by Detective Chris Brown, which was questioned as fake and had an inaccurate date of completion of 2014 on it, even though the alleged incident happened in 2017). MCSO argued this was a clerical error, yet this warrant could not be produced when requested for over a year. Additionally, if the 1st warrant was legitimate, then there would have been no need for a 2nd warrant, let alone a 3rd.

Detective Bouchard authored the 3rd warrant (SW#2020-005168) in retaliation, as it was done years later and right after he had been suspended for deleting Sarah’s interview.

Detective Bouchard stated the reason for the 3rd warrant was because “MCSO now possessed the technology to BYPASS APPLE’S SECURITY” to extract data off of Sarah’s iPhone.

*It is important to note here that during Sarah’s 2nd interview, the one that Detective Bouchard deleted, Sarah was asked for her iTunes password by both Detective Bouchard and Detective Brown. Sarah refused, as she did not trust the detectives since learning of their connections to Shawn Braaten, and she had just found out that her entire iCloud account had been wiped (confirmed by Apple). It's important to note that not only was Sarah's iCloud account wiped, but DJ's was as well the same day, which also happened to be on a scheduled court hearing day when neither Sarah nor DJ would have been able to use their phones. When Sarah brought this to the detectives’ attention, she was told that that had happened when they already tried to extract data off of her phone, which is why they needed her iTunes password. When Sarah asked for the warrant for requesting to get data off of her phone, Detective Brown stated that he wrote it and had submitted it, yet when Sarah asked the prosecutor for it during the interview, she could not find it. In fact, this warrant was not found for over a year when a questionable one “all of a sudden” surfaced. Sarah studied Apple’s Law Enforcement policy which states that the only way Apple would release a customer’s information to law enforcement was if law enforcement presented Apple with a warrant. Even then, Apple would be required to notify the customer of such warrant. Since Sarah never received any such notification from Apple, she contacted them directly and Apple confirmed that they NEVER received a warrant for her account (see email and Apple’s policy attachments on “Resources” page).

Even though both Sarah and Jacob were listed as “victims” in the case, Detective Bouchard went to extensive lengths to get data off of Sarah’s phone even though she refused to give over her iTunes password. Jacob, on the other hand, never even had his phone taken into evidence and when Detective Bouchard wanted information off of it, he called Jacob and asked him for it. Jacob refused stating it was because he had personal and private information on it that he did not want to share (listen to audio recording on “The Only Aggressor” page). Detective Bouchard never pursued getting Jacob’s phone despite stating that he would issue a subpoena for it, and yet he never did.

Detective Bouchard refused to file trespassing charges against Jacob when Sarah requested it in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Sarah was told by detectives that she had grounds to file trespassing charges, yet they refused to not only file charges, but they did not even document her requests to do so. After Sarah went to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office to file a complaint about MCSO’s misconduct, she was advised by Duty Agent “Everett” that it was a violation of policy for MCSO to not even document her request to file trespassing charges, and she was advised to go back to MCSO to get them to document her requests. Sarah did as she was advised, and she was later contacted by Deputy R. Perez (S1940) who told Sarah that this assignment was put on his desk by his Sgt. Richard Ranck (S1813), and he felt like he was being “thrown under the bus.” It is important to note that Sgt. Ranck was also on scene at the Lee residence the day of the incident.

During trial, Detective Bouchard was conveniently put on FMLA so that he would not be required to testify. Since he could not testify, the newly assigned prosecutor, Frankie Grimsman, refused to allow any of Detective Bouchard’s misconduct to be presented or submitted, including the fact that he was put on the Brady List.

Chris Brown- S2002

Involved in the following Internal Investigations:

IA2017-0349

IA2018-0474

IA2019-0323

Was currently under internal investigation (IA2017-0349) when assigned to the Lee case. This investigation was signed off by Shawn Braaten.

Was the detective who handcuffed DJ and told other officers specifically to NOT read DJ his Miranda rights.

Told Sarah on scene the day of the alleged incident that if her mother in law did not get to the house fast enough, then he was going to send her children to Child Protective Services. He reaffirmed this to Sarah’s mother in law over the phone as Sarah was required to call her from Detective Brown’s cell phone, which means Detective Brown had DJ’s parents’ phone number in his phone.

This is important because the Lee’s were consistently harassed on nights before court hearings. One such incident involved DJ receiving a phone call from someone claiming to be from the “monitoring company” for the ankle monitor that DJ had to wear for 6 months. The call came in the middle of night telling DJ that he needed to move around, because his monitor was showing he had been “inactive” for awhile. Although DJ explained that he had been asleep for several hours, he was still told he needed to move around. DJ’s parents advised that they were contacted at their home number first from the same “monitoring company” looking for DJ. DJ contacted his Pretrial Services Officer the next day, along with the bail bonds company to inquire if there was a monitoring company since he received the strange phone call the night before, but both entities stated that they did not call, nor did they know of any separate “monitoring company”.

Authored a suspicious search warrant (SW#2017-008153) for data off Sarah’s iPhone, which could not be found for over a year, and once it was, it had an accurate date of 2014 on it. Additionally, this warrant was found to be a “copy and paste” statement from an unrelated case involving restaurant Uncle Sam’s owner Bret Frimmel (see section on Chris Hechavarria below). It was also only “found” after a second warrant for Sarah’s iPhone had been authored by Detective Bouchard (SW#2018-007289).

Authored another search for the Lee’s home surveillance footage (SW#2017-008154), which was not turned over to the Lee’s until literally the first day of trial. Additionally, the footage was altered in that there are substantial gaps in the footage where it is missing before, during and after the alleged incident.

Was present along with Detective Bouchard for Sarah’s 2nd interview with the prosecutor. During this time Detective Brown confirmed that Jacob and Shawn Braaten were related, in that he stated he specifically asked Braaten if he wanted to be a part of the investigation (HUGE CONFLICT). He also said that under MCSO’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio regime (which he was a part of), officers were allowed to lie about anything. He also stated that this tactic was specifically used on illegal citizens, in that they would call them up, tell them they won a TV, and then when they would show up to “claim their prize,” they would arrest and deport them.

Requested the wrong date range on a warrant for data preservation (through Sprint) for Jacob’s iPhone.

Was the first one to know about the familial connection between Jacob and Shawn Braaten.

Enrolled his child at the same private school as the Lee’s children, where their sons were in the same class together. This created an extremely uncomfortable and threatening presence from MCSO, in that the Lee’s had to see Detective Brown not only when dropping off and/or picking up their kids, but also at school functions and at birthday parties. Additionally, Detective Brown had a private meeting with the Dean at the school where he told the Dean that there was a conflict between him and the Lee’s, and although he was not permitted to talk about the case, it “wasn’t anything that Google couldn’t fix" (listen to audio below). Detective Brown also brought a MCSO patrol vehicle to the school for his son’s show and tell. During this presentation he told the Lee’s son directly that they “only put bad people in the back of the vehicle” knowing that the Lee’s son saw Detective Brown specifically put his daddy (DJ) in the back of an identical vehicle. This was done maliciously and the Lee’s son was extremely emotionally traumatized because of it (listen to audio below). Body worn camera footage worn by Deputy Richard Wurzbach reveals not only the Lee's children crying, but also Deputy Wurzbach telling both Detective Brown and Sergeant Hanson how traumatized the kids were. Deputy Wurzbach even stated how the kids were "going to hate cops", and he then put MCSO Sheriff's badge stickers in Sergeant Hanson's shirt pocket to give to the kids, but does so in a joking/sarcastic way. Detective Brown could care less that the kids were traumatized and had no interest in trying to de-escalate the situation (see videos below). Detective Brown additionally is the officer that put the kids' car seats in the back of the children's grandmother's car when she came to pick them up, but he did not install them properly in that the safety hooks were not latched and the seatbelts were not locked in place. The fact that Detective Brown had a son the exact same age as the Lee's son (and a daughter two years younger than that) is further evidence that he knew how to properly install carseats, yet blatantly neglected the Lee children's safety, in addition to their emotional well-being, showing that familial connections within MCSO take precedence.

Worked overtime for Shawn Braaten at Braaten’s personal side business called Shield Traffic and Security LLC. Brown mentions that he worked OT 88 times as a security officer at different sporting event games in one year. When you’re getting this much extra income in a year, you definitely would not want to do anything to jeopardize it, even if the cost included helping to take care of Shawn Braaten’s family.

**Additionally, there was as internal investigation (IA2018-0474) opened regarding an incident with Detective Brown when Detective Brown was working OT at Chase Field for Shawn Braaten’s company, Shield Traffic and Security LLC. Braaten is also the one who signed off on this investigation stating that nothing was found and no disciplinary action should be brought against Detective Brown (Not Sustained)-this is another HUGE CONFLICT.

Was one of the pall bearers at Shawn Braaten’s funeral.

Matthew Ratcliffe- S1553

Involved in the following Internal Investigations:

IA2008-0083

IA2013-0268

IA2015-0633

IA2019-0323

Detective Ratcliffe was the first on scene at the Lee residence and was setup as the “look out” on 8/2/17.

He observed Sarah outside around 5:30AM alone feeding her animals, and later witnessed DJ and his children playing together outside. Detective Ratcliffe later asked Sarah if she had seen him in his vehicle outside that morning and stated that he saw Sarah feeding her animals with her phone in her back pocket, which seemed “business as usual.”

Detective Ratcliffe NEVER documented this in a supplemental report because these interactions showed that it was NOT a hostile situation, that Sarah was NOT being held against her will, and that Sarah had possession of her phone and could have called for help if she was in danger.

Detective Ratcliffe requested DNA from Jacob and then later sent this buccal swab plus a sample of Jacob’s hair to the lab for comparison. The suspicious thing about this request is that Ratcliffe sent in two samples of Jacob’s hair, one that was taken from Jacob the night of the alleged incident, and the other from a separate request for a hair sample directly from Jacob. These were sent in for the purpose of seeing if they matched, which of course they did because both samples were taken directly from Jacob. Officers stated that they “found” hair from Jacob at the Lee residence, yet they NEVER tested this hair sample, which poses the question of why Detective Ratcliffe needed another sample?

Detective Ratcliffe was involved in the Compliance Order mandated by Judge Murray Snow during the Sheriff Joe Arpaio regime, in which officers were found to be racially profiling individuals in a scheme to get them deported. Ratcliffe’s direct supervisor during this time was Shawn Braaten.

https://www.aclu.org/cases/ortega-melendres-et-al-v-arpaio-et-al

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/sheriff-plays-dumb-pt-2-she-wanted-this-matter-pursued-further-6635071

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2017/07/31/maricopa-county-sheriff-joe-arpaio-found-guilty-criminal-contempt-court/486278001/

This contempt order has extended to current MCSO Sheriff Paul Penzone, which shows that the same misconduct and lack of compliance has just rolled over to the new regime. Sheriff Penzone has touted how much better he is than former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, but because he has still retained the same corrupt officers that worked for Arpaio, there truly has been no change for the better within the department. This is evidenced by the backlog of internal investigations due to officer misconduct and complaints (see article below).

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2022/11/09/judge-orders-penzone-mcso-reduce-internal-investigation-backlog/8319226001/

Detective Ratcliffe’s personnel file reveals that he “questions the lawful directives he is given” (pg 32/219), he “takes too long to author search warrants” (pg 33-34/219), that he is unmotivated and needs to be more, “aggressive and proactive” (pg 58/219), and that he was reprimanded for gossiping and talking bad about his co-workers and supervisor (pg 58/219).

Steve Horath- S0759

Involved in the following Internal Investigations:

IA2010-0066

IA2012-0165

IA2013-0075

IA2014-0065

IA2014-0618

IA2015-0744

IA2016-0671

IA2017-0805

IA2019-0323

IA2021-0068

Detective Horath was the lead detective for an incident at the Lee residence in 2011 where an intruder broke into the Lee’s home in the middle of the night by throwing a rock through the bedroom window to gain access to the home. The suspect (Thomas Charles Boyd) was apprehended and only charged with criminal trespassing, which he was sentenced for 2 years but got out early for “good behavior.” Additionally, the suspect had priors consisting of 6 felonies, 28 misdemeanors, and warrants out for his arrest in Arizona and Illinois.

*It is important to note that during this incident, MCSO was called out but took 30 minutes before they responded to the Lee’s who had called 911. Additionally, there were only 2 detectives assigned for the entire case, one being Detective Horath, who LOST the paperwork for the case. When DJ questioned Detective Horath about losing the paperwork, and then contacted Detective Horath’s supervisor about it, Detective Horath got in trouble for it. Detective Horath called DJ about this and became indignant, angry at DJ, and accused him of “Monday morning quarterbacking him.”

*Also note the drastic difference in the call out and use of “resources” by MCSO for the two incidents. In 2011, for a break in where the suspect was caught and lied about committing the felony, there were only 2 detectives on scene and it took MCSO 30 minutes to respond to the victims’ (the Lee’s) home. This is in stark contrast to 2017, where there were 5 detectives, multiple deputies, SWAT, analysts, and K-9 unit all because of what one person said happened, even though that person did not need medical attention, had no injuries, and did not even call 911, but rather his mother called the non-emergency line. The Lee’s had zero prior criminal history, and yet, because Jacob had high ranking family within MCSO (Shawn Braaten, who was also in charge of major SWAT call outs) the treatment and execution of the investigation was DRASTICALLY different.

When Detective Horath arrived on scene in 2017, the first thing he said to Sarah when he opened the car door where she and her two small children were waiting was, “been a long time” with a smug smile on his face.

Detective Horath was one of the detectives that conducted both Sarah’s and DJ’s initial interviews (separately), in which he told Sarah that he felt “[MCSO] overreacted,” that “DJ is a good guy,” and that “[he] told them they should have just knocked on the door.”

During Detective Horath’s interview with DJ (which was returned edited and with key pieces of the conversation missing), Detective Horath was heard outside the room saying, “I love it when a plan comes together.” Additionally, Detective Horath was heard arguing with another deputy outside the room about charging DJ with kidnapping. The deputy thought it was ridiculous to charge DJ with kidnapping since “[Jacob] was the one who came over to [DJ’s] house.”

Detective Horath also told DJ during his interview that Sarah received a phone call from her doctor while MCSO was at his house, and that she found out from her recent biopsy that she had cancer. This was 100% a manipulating lie, as not only had Sarah not received her test results yet (which turned out to be negative for cancer), but Sarah’s phone had already been taken into evidence, so there was no way she could have even taken a call if the doctor had called.

Additionally, during DJ’s interview, Detective Horath told DJ that he was not allowed to have a blanket in the holding cell because they did not want him to hang himself; however, later in the interview room, Detective Horath pointed out an extension cord to DJ in the room, then turned off all the lights in the room, and left DJ alone for an extensive length of time for no reason. One can infer that Detective Horath was being cruel and manipulative by trying to plant an idea and create a situation where DJ could have hung himself if he had wanted to. Not to mention that MCSO is currently under investigation and intense scrutiny by local media for the number of inmate deaths while in MCSO custody (see article below).

https://www.12news.com/article/news/investigations/i-team/inmate-deaths-maricopa-county-arizona/75-7e8f4d7f-a2ce-4a16-85ad-1fb949de3be9

Detective Horath also told DJ that he got his wristwatch from another MCSO officer that he helped during an investigation involving an officer who had broken his leg during an incident at the Salt River.
See link for the incident he was talking about: https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/maricopa-county-deputy-cleared-k9-dog-oncuffed-inmate-in-cell-11532994

Detective Horath threatened Sarah, off the record of course, that, “if [she] didn’t tell [the detectives] what they already [knew], then things would be really bad for [her].”

Has been suspended from work for 8 hours on three separate occasions, and for two days on one occasion for the following reasons:

Inefficiency, negative attitude, and improper disposal of contraband (5/19/89)
Driving a vehicle with expired AZ plates (6/5/89)
Missing a trial that he had been subpoenaed for (4/25/87)
Damaging a patrol car while driving in a desert area (1/23/90)

Has received a written reprimand for the following reasons:

Conducting an investigation while off duty, in uniform, and not immediately advising his supervisors of the situation, which involved meeting the estranged wife of a drug dealer at a hotel (7/5/92)
Being confrontational and having a negative attitude in front of fellow officers and a probationary deputy (that Detective Horath failed to properly train) regarding deficient reports that Detective Horath wrote (12/20/91)
Handcuffing a civilian and putting her in the back of his patrol vehicle without arresting or charging her, but as a means to keep her quiet in response to a noise complaint (6/3/91)

Internal Investigation (IA2013-0075) revealed that when Detective Horath, his Captain Rich Burden, and newer deputy Shaun Eversole, discovered that a man they pulled over during a traffic stop for a DUI was actually a DPS (Department of Public Safety) Officer, Horath and Burden tried to convince the new deputy that arresting another officer was “out of the norm” and that they should not arrest him because “he’d take a bullet for you.” The DPS Officer’s blood alcohol content level was .103%, yet Burden told the new deputy that he himself had driven home at a BAC of .105% before. This is further evidence that officers go out of their way to bend the rules and to protect fellow officers even if they are not with the same department. While Horath only received a written reprimand for this, Captain Burden conveniently retired right after this.

Internal Investigation (IA2010-0066) revealed that Horath (when working in the Court Security Division) assaulted an inmate (Timothy Woods) while he was handcuffed, then later handcuffed him to the handicap railing next to the toilet in the bathroom, and then intentionally accused Mr. Woods of being a child abuser loud enough so all of the other inmates could hear. Horath did this strategically, knowing how child abusers are notoriously treated by other inmates in prison, thus needlessly putting this man’s life at risk (listen to audio below). Mr. Woods started a lawsuit against MCSO over this, and in Detective Horath’s interview with PSB about this, one of the investigators (Sgt. LeGer) states how detrimental this was and even says, “So I mean if we really think about if that was to get out to media or anywhere else and this guy’s all locked up to a rail with pepper spray goin’ up his face, he can’t wipe his face or nothin’, regardless of the fact of whatever he’s runnin’ his mouth that’s bad. That does not look good. I mean would you agree with that?” Horath only received a written reprimand for this.

Internal Investigation (IA2017-0805) involves a complaint towards Detective Horath from a paralegal within the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office that Detective Horath made her feel uncomfortable by brushing up against her after walking practically on top of her in a hallway. The paralegal said that Detective Horath also made a comment about how he “could have goosed [her],”and this made the paralegal very embarrassed, and she was worried other people in the office would have heard this comment. Detective Horath plays ignorant to the entire situation, treats the situation like a joke by laughing at the allegations, and even accuses the complainant of “jumping on the Harvey Weinstein bandwagon” (listen to video snippet below) and that she is only accusing Detective Horath because she “must have insecurity issues, and she just wanted to be noticed.” It is important to note that, now Sergeant, Jerry Broadwater is the one conducting the interview with Detective Horath since he was moved to PSB to work under Shawn Braaten. This investigation was reviewed and signed off by Shawn Braaten on 9/25/18 and was deemed "not sustained", which means that even though several county attorneys were interviewed and testified on the misconduct, MCSO still found that there was not sufficient evidence to reprimand Detective Horath for his inappropriate actions. Once again, Shawn Braaten is signing off on and finding no fault for the officers that assisted with unjustly persecuting DJ and protecting his nephew Jacob.

It is important to note that prior to MCSO’s PSB conducting this interview, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office got their own Professional Standards Bureau department involved. Email correspondence reveals that even though what the paralegal was alleging happened was escalated to MCAO’s Bureau Chief Barbara Marshall, and then to MCAO’s Deputy Chief Mike McVey, MCAO deemed that even though Detective Horath’s comment was inappropriate, they “didn’t see a crime here,” and they already made up how the narrative was going to go. This was evidenced by email correspondence within MCAO which states that they needed to “define the parameters,” and Mr. McVey said that they needed to “formulate the best approach from the HR perspective.” During MCSO’s interview with the paralegal, she is visibly nervous and constantly trying to downplay the incident. It is not until we hear her co-worker/friend’s interview that we learn that the paralegal was so distraught over this incident that she had to go to the hospital because her blood pressure was so high, and she had been incredibly stressed out about it. It is also important to note that during all of the interviews that MCSO conducted with MCAO employees, Lieutenant Sharon Gage (#659) with MCAO’s PSB was present.

Several interviews with MCAO employees all corroborate with what the paralegal stated happened in her interaction with Detective Horath; in fact, one attorney (Greg Cecilia) even stated that Detective Horath touched the paralegals buttocks, so why would the paralegal downplay the events and leave out the fact that she was so distraught about this that she went to the hospital? After further research, the truth becomes abundantly clear. During the time of this incident, MCAO’s Deputy Chief Mike McVey was actually involved in an extramarital affair with the observing Lieutenant, Sharon Gage. Mr. McVey was reported in the news about this after all five Board of Supervisors received an anonymous letter accusing Mr. McVey of being in an inappropriate relationship with Lt. Gage. Mr. McVey stated that he disclosed the relationship to MCAO months prior, but there is no evidence of that (see article below). It makes sense that MCAO and Mr. McVey would want this incident to disappear, and it is no wonder that the paralegal sounded scared. Not only was the Lieutenant who was observing her involved in a scandalous interoffice relationship, but it was with the Deputy Chief. This is why the paralegal was so concerned with fellow employees’ perception of what Detective Horath did and the inappropriate comment he made. She was worried that it would be perceived as an inappropriate relationship.

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/rachel-mitchell-gets-top-job-at-montgomerys-office-amid-management-turmoil-11339012

All of the MCSO interviews for these allegations were conducted by Sergeant Jerry Broadwater (original lead detective on the Lee case) in PSB, and despite all of the evidence and witness statements that Detective Horath acted inappropriately, the investigation was ultimately reviewed and signed off as “Not-Sustained” by none other than Shawn Braaten.

Detective Horath’s personnel file reveals that he is consistently incompetent when it comes to paperwork:

Pg. 279 states that Horath not only has difficulty completing investigations in a thorough and timely manner, but he “demonstrated extreme difficulty in his ability to interview individuals and fully document their statements.”
Pg.326 states that Horath received a letter of counseling for not completing paperwork on time.
Pg. 335 states that Horath “has a tendency to leave things out” of his reports. This same page also states that Horath has been “detrimental to the moral of [his] squad by not complying with instructions and openly complaining about supervisory decisions.”All of these examples reinforce that when Detective Horath “lost” the paperwork for the incident at the Lee’s home in 2011, that was not an isolated incident, but rather willful negligence that he has been outed on, and reprimanded for, multiple times, yet it was never enough to stop him from continuing to do the same incompetent work.