Don Stapley
Maricopa County prosecutors want to be allowed to peek at secret court records in order to take a closer look at the real estate dealings of county Supervisor Don Stapley, who was recently indicted on suspicion of 118 crimes.
In a request filed late last week, prosecutors asked Maricopa County Judge Larry Grant to order several documents unsealed in a 2005 lawsuit involving Arizona land baron Conley Wolfswinkel. As part of his indictment, Stapley is accused of hiding from the public a number of million-dollar real estate transactions with Wolfswinkel.
The sealed documents include a sworn deposition by Woflswinkel, which prosecutor Lisa Aubuchon said she thinks may contain information about deals with the long-time county supervisor. “There is a likelihood that the deposition touches upon Conley Wolfswinkel’s business dealings with Donald T. Stapley,” Aubuchon writes. “This deposition could have an impact on the criminal matter.”
Wolfswinkel has not been accused in any crime related to the Stapley case. It’s not clear why the records were sealed in the first place.
Aubuchon did not say exactly what information she was looking for by making the Jan. 9 filing, and a spokesman with the Maricopa County Attorney’s office declined to elaborate.
Stapley’s attorney, former U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton, also declined to comment. Stapley has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges.
The move is another in an already complicated criminal case, which has pitted the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors against its own attorney, Andrew Thomas, who is also acting as the prosecutor in the case.
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For more information about the Stapley indictment and its connections with Wolfswinkel, see a December story in the Phoenix New Times. For a background on Wolfswinkel himself, see a 2005 story in the East Valley Tribune.