Pinal sheriff expects armed conflict with cartels soon
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu is anticipating an armed conflict between his deputies and cartel members within the next 30 to 60 days.
Babeu made that prediction last week as he addressed an Ahwatukee Foothills Republican women’s club, and reiterated it Tuesday on the heels of a speech by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano asserting that border communities are safer than ever.
A gunbattle is all but certain, Babeu told The Arizona Republic, because his deputies and members of a regional SWAT team are now routinely working to stop smugglers from pushing cargo through Pinal.
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What Babeu doesn’t mention here is that one of his deputies supposedly DID have a “firefight” with “smugglers”, and Babeu had to fire him because he was talking about it too much and not telling the truth.
Pinal County Sheriff’s Deputy Louis Puroll couldn’t resist an invitation to talk, and now that’s cost him his job.
Sheriff Paul Babeu fired Puroll Wednesday for comments he made to a Phoenix newspaper, the New Times, and for lying to investigators.
Puroll had kept his job through months of scrutiny after being shot on April 30 in what Puroll said was a firefight with smugglers in a remote desert valley. But after Babeu cleared him in October of accusations that he had made up the gunfight story, Puroll did an interview with a New Times reporter that led to his termination.
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That hurts Babeu’s credibility on the subject.