Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos got a reputation for loving the spotlight during the early days of the Nancy Guthrie investigation — but now, it seems, the glare is getting a bit too hot.
With the elderly mom of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie missing for 100 days, Nanos is skipping a public meeting to discuss whether he should be booted from his job over claims he lied about his decades-old disciplinary record.Two members of the Pima County Board of Supervisors in Tucson said they would file a motion to vacate the sheriff if the embattled lawman — who was last reelected in 2024 — didn’t step down by Tuesday’s board meeting.
“We will respectfully await the Board’s decision before commenting on the matter,” the Sheriff’s Department told the Post Tuesday.
The controversy revolves around an answer Nanos gave during a 2024 lawsuit. The sheriff was asked whether he had ever been suspended during his law enforcement career and responded “no.”
But he had, in fact, been suspended from the El Paso Police Department multiple times for “insubordination” and “consistent inefficiency” and finally resigned in 1982 “in lieu of disciplinary action” after a dispute with a supervisor, his lawyer James Cool confirmed in a memorandum submitted to the board last month.
Cool claimed Nanos was referring to his record in Arizona when he said he had never been suspended, not his time in Texas “more than four decades ago.”“Bad faith media reports have divorced this testimony from its context,” the lawyer wrote, adding that Nano’s employment history “is irrelevant to the performance of his duties as an elected official.”Nanos’ opponents disagree.
“This is accountability for a guy who has evaded accountability for decades and is himself a public safety threat,” Matt Heinz, a member of the Pima County Board of Supervisors backing the ouster, told Fox News.Meanwhile, Nanos continues to fend off criticism for alleged missteps in the search for Nancy Guthrie, who was taken from her home by a masked gunman on Feb. 1.Despite weeks of claiming to have strong DNA evidence and other promising leads, the sheriff’s department has yet to identify a suspect or put forward a compelling theory for why Nancy was abducted or where she could be.
