Sheriff’s official implicated in drug-smuggling case

BISBEE — Federal prosecutors have called on the former commander of the Cochise County Jail to testify in the upcoming trial of an alleged leader of a Mexican drug smuggling organization.

Ron Hager, 54, who abruptly resigned in November 2007 as Bureau Chief of the Detention Division – the third highest-ranking position within Cochise County law enforcement – was served with the subpoena earlier this fall.

Hager has not been charged with any crime, but the subpoena suggests a previously undisclosed relationship with Carlos “El Caliche” Molinares-Nunez, a Mexican national who will soon stand trial on multiple charges related to his role as the alleged leader of a marijuana smuggling operation.

Hager’s wife, Eugenia Aguirre, a former employee of the Cochise County Jail, has also been called to testify in the Molinares-Nunez trial, which begins Jan. 9 in U.S. District Court in Tucson.

According to a report in Benson’s San Pedro Valley News-Sun newspaper, which first broke the news of Hager’s involvement in the Molinares-Nunez case, Hager is the target of a public corruption investigation by the FBI. The information about the corruption probe was attributed to Anthony Coulson, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s assistant agent in charge in Tucson.

In an interview, Coulson would not confirm that Hager was the target of an FBI probe. But he did say that the subpoena raised troubling questions about Hager’s potential relationship with Molinares-Nunez.

“It’s absolutely of concern,” Coulson says. He also did not rule out a possible future indictment of Hager.

Molinares-Nunez was apprehended in December 2006 during Operation Vanquish, a joint operation between the DEA, FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Bisbee Police Department.

At the time, DEA Spceial Agent in Charge Timothy J. Landrum said, “Operation Vanquish’ identified and dismantled a violent criminal enterprise responsible for smuggling and distributing multi-ton loads of marijuana into Southern Arizona.”

Molinares-Nunez – whose nickname, “El Caliche,” refers to the rock-hard surface covering parts of the Sonoran Desert – represents a major catch for counter-narcotics enforcement along the border, Coulson says.

“He’s obviously very significant,” he says. “He’s committed a number of crimes; he has a number of people working for him in an organization.”

Shortly after his arrest in 2006, arsonists – presumably from a rival gang – destroyed Molinares-Nunez’s lavish house in Naco, Sonora, federal prosecutors say.

Molinares-Nunez faces life in prison if convicted of the most serious charges against him, which include conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana, and continuing a criminal enterprise – a statute used against organized crime figures.

With the indictment against Molinarez-Nunez sealed, no further information related to the case is publicly available, says a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Phoenix.

But the report of Hager’s potential involvement with an alleged organized crime figure has generated political fallout for Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever, who promoted Hager to jail commander.

According to published reports, DEA agents approached Dever in October 2007 to ask for assistance with an investigation of Hager, and Dever maintains that shortly thereafter he terminated Hager’s employment. He has also repeatedly stated that his first indication of possible trouble with Hager was when he was approached by the DEA in late 2007.

Yet a former high-ranking deputy in the Sheriff’s department disputes Dever’s portrayal of events.

Lance Crosthwait, who says he and Dever were once “best friends,” was appointed chief deputy – the department’s second-highest position – by Dever in 2004.

Interviewed by phone, Crosthwait says that he first brought concerns about Hager’s behavior to Dever’s attention as far back as 2005. Dever’s claim that he knew nothing about possible misconduct by Hager until approached by the DEA is simply not true, he says.

“I told him time and time again that there was something there, but the Sheriff looked the other way,” Crosthwait says. “I said there were some serious problems… I told him exactly what was going on.”

Crosthwait would not elaborate on precisely what Hager did to arouse suspicions within the department, but says that it did not involve specific knowledge of criminal acts.

Dever, who has served as sheriff since 1996, declined repeated requests for an interview but issued a brief statement via email.

“All of you need to pay attention to the fact that Ron Hager has not been charged with, nor accused of any wrongdoing. He has simply been subpoenaed as a witness in a closed case,” Dever wrote. “I have no more information than that, and nothing more to say. The fact that he no longer works for me is my prerogative.”

Dever’s political adversaries have seized upon the Hager controversy to call into question whether personal loyalty or other considerations clouded the sheriff’s judgment as a law enforcement officer.

Norm Bradley, a Democrat who challenged Dever, a Republican, in the November election and lost, has more than 30 years of experience in counter-narcotic. He served as deputy assistant commissioner for air and marine interdiction for the U.S. Customs Service, and as a staff member of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He also worked briefly for Dever in the mid-90s, but resigned after four years.

Bradley contends that Dever was running the sheriff’s office like a “fiefdom,” and that concerns about Hager were handled based on personal and political considerations.

“Where things start going awry is when the operational interests start to be overcome by political interests,” Bradley says.

Bradley says departmental records show that Hager was not fired, but allowed to resign voluntarily. After that, he became the administrator of a jail complex in The Dalles, Ore., then resigned after being subpoenaed in the Molinares-Nunez case.

Bradley and others question how Hager could have secured the high-ranking position in Oregon while being investigated by the FBI and lacking a positive recommendation from Dever, his direct supervisor.

Dever, however, has denied giving Hager assistance in finding his new job. And despite persistent criticism over his handling of Hager, Dever won re-election handily in conservative-leaning Cochise County with about 60 percent of the vote.

Earlier this year, Dever survived a challenge in the Republican primary from Bill Cloud, a retired investigator from the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

Cloud worked for the Border Alliance Group, a multi-agency counter-narcotics task force headquartered at the Cochise County Sheriff’s department, which shares a building with the Cochise County Jail in Bisbee.

Cloud says that it was common knowledge that Eugenia Aguirre, who Hager married sometime in 2006, was a family member of Molinares-Nunez.

Given the circumstances, when subordinates raised questions about Hager’s activities, Dever should have taken action, Cloud says.

“This is a small community – a border town, no less,” he says. “The law enforcement community is pretty tight-knit. The sheriff should have known that these activities were going on.”

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