It’s been three days since Maricopa County detention office Adam Stoddard was ordered to jail for contempt of court, and the sheriff’s office, which both employs him and supposedly has him in custody, has yet to offer proof he’s behind bars.
Stoddard’s lawyer, deputy county attorney Tom Liddy, said the detention officer surrendered at about 6 p.m. Tuesday. He even told a crowd yesterday that his fellow “brothers and sisters” in the sheriff’s office treated Stoddard “with the utmost respect” as they took him into custody.
But by today, the young officer who was caught on courthouse security video taking confidential documents from a defense attorney still has not shown up in any of the county’s jail records. Additionally, the sheriff’s office has refused to say where he is being held “for his security” and also declined to release a booking photo or inmate number.
To some, at least, it’s enough to question whether Stoddard is really in jail.
“Have you checked the Ritz Carlton’s registry?” said Craig Mehrens, the Phoenix lawyer who originally asked for Stoddard to be held in contempt of court for taking the documents.
Mehrens said he believes Stoddard’s bosses are keeping him somewhere out of sight, but he doubts it’s in a jail cell.
“Do I think he’s in a place where he’s not free to leave? Yes,” said Mehrens. “Do I think he’s in a real jail with bars? Absolutely not.”
Journalist Ray Stern of the Phoenix New Times also noticed that Stoddard is nowhere to be found in the county jail system. “The way we see it,” he wrote, “Stoddard might be in jail – or he might not be.”
Earlier in the week, Stoddard’s attorney said Judge Gary Donahoe had “screwed up” the order to put him in jail. Because of it, the sheriff’s office had been unable to book its own employee that night and he ended up staying in jail “voluntarily,” he said.
Liddy announced he would get the mistake corrected the following morning, but by Wednesday afternoon, Stoddard still had not been booked.
Today, Liddy has not returned a message seeking comment, nor has the sheriff’s office.
TRY IT YOURSELF:
Go to the inmate search page on the sheriff’s website, type “Stoddard” for the last name and click “Search for Mugshots.” If something comes up, for cryin’ out loud, email me.