At least two Pima County supervisors say they will move to vacate Sheriff Chris Nanos' office if he does not resign by Tuesday, accusing him of lying under oath about his disciplinary record as a police officer in El Paso, all while the 84-year-old Tucson woman he is supposed to be finding remains missing after nearly 100 days.
The confrontation, reported by Fox News, puts Nanos in a political and legal vise: face a board vote to strip him of his badge, or walk away voluntarily. The deadline is May 12. The supervisors say they are done waiting.
Nancy Guthrie was abducted from her Tucson home on February 1. The search hit its 90th day on Friday. No suspect has been identified. No relevant arrest has been made. And the sheriff leading the investigation now faces questions about whether he was honest about his own law-enforcement past, a past that, if the records hold up, includes multiple suspensions and a resignation in lieu of termination.
The core accusation is straightforward. A transcript shows Nanos stated under oath that he had never been suspended as a law enforcement officer. Public records obtained by the Arizona Republic and later posted to the county board's website tell a different story: Nanos was suspended numerous times during his tenure with the El Paso Police Department and ultimately resigned rather than be terminated.
An attorney working for Nanos offered a narrower version of events. The attorney said Nanos resigned from the El Paso department in 1982 while holding the rank of corporal, following a dispute with a supervisor over the towing of vehicles. The supervisor sought a three-day suspension for insubordination. Nanos appealed to the chief, who sided with the supervisor. Rather than accept the discipline, Nanos offered to resign in lieu of the suspension, and the chief accepted.
That account addresses one incident. It does not explain the broader record of multiple suspensions reflected in the El Paso documents. And it does not reconcile with a sworn statement that he had never been suspended at all.
Pima County Supervisor Steve Christy told Fox News that the board demanded Nanos answer questions under oath, and that Nanos missed the deadline.
"He's already failed that request. The timeline for him to provide that is over."
Christy did not leave room for ambiguity about what comes next. He said both sides are now using outside counsel rather than the county attorney's office, and that taxpayers are footing the bill.
"So there's no going back... it's too late for that. So we're into the next phase of if he doesn't resign, then we will move toward, or at least two of us on the board will move toward, vacating his office."
Christy cited an 1873 Arizona law as the legal basis for the board's authority to vacate the sheriff's office. He said Nanos still has the option to retire honorably in the days before the board meeting next week, but that if he does not, the motion will proceed.
The FBI's earlier recovery of tampered security footage showing an armed, masked figure at Guthrie's front door had already raised public pressure on the investigation. The sheriff's personal credibility crisis now compounds that pressure.
Supervisor Dr. Matt Heinz was blunter. He told Fox News that the effort to remove Nanos is about holding an elected official accountable for conduct that, in Heinz's view, has gone unchecked for years.
"This is accountability for a guy who has evaded accountability for decades and is himself a public safety threat."
Heinz acknowledged that the full board may not agree to vacate the office. But he said even if the motion falls short, the supervisors will likely pursue a formal resolution expressing no confidence in the sheriff and a referral for prosecution.
"If the board doesn't want to move ahead with vacating the office, I'm pretty sure that they will want to do something meaningful like a resolution expressing lack of confidence and the referral for prosecution."
It remains unclear whether the two supervisors have enough votes to carry the motion. The board has not publicly indicated how other members will vote. But Heinz and Christy appear prepared to force the question regardless.
The timing of this political confrontation is not lost on anyone following the Nancy Guthrie disappearance. The 84-year-old woman vanished from her Tucson home on February 1 after what authorities described as an abduction by a masked man captured on security footage.
Investigators described the suspect as approximately 5 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall, with an average build, wearing a black 25-liter Ozark Trail Hiker Pack backpack. The FBI footage of the armed figure at Guthrie's door drew national attention and a strong reaction from President Trump.
Early in the investigation, a pair of gloves recovered near Guthrie's home generated speculation about a possible break in the case. That lead went nowhere. Nanos himself told Fox News that the DNA on the gloves belonged to a worker at a restaurant across the street and had nothing to do with the disappearance.
As Just The News reported, Nanos said investigators traced the gloves to the restaurant employee, undercutting what many had hoped was a breakthrough.
The early recovery of the glove evidence had drawn significant public interest, and the deflation of that lead only deepened frustration with the pace of the investigation.
A separate forensic avenue remains open. A private lab in Florida sent a hair sample to the FBI for more advanced analysis, which could help identify a suspect through forensic genetic genealogy if it does not match known individuals connected to Guthrie's home. Nanos told Fox News Digital that investigators are "closer" to solving the case and described recent developments as "really great," though he offered no specifics.
The question for Pima County residents is whether a sheriff facing credible accusations of perjury can credibly lead a high-profile investigation, or any investigation at all. The supervisors pressing for his removal argue the answer is obvious. Nanos, through his attorney, has offered a partial explanation for one disciplinary incident in El Paso but has not addressed the broader record or his sworn denial of any suspension.
Christy's reference to an 1873 Arizona statute as the legal mechanism for vacating the office suggests the board is prepared for a fight. Outside counsel on both sides means taxpayers are already paying for the standoff. And the county attorney's office, the entity that would normally advise the board, is apparently sidelined.
Meanwhile, the Guthrie family waits. The case remains active, with a public reward and ongoing requests for tips. But the department that should be focused entirely on finding an 84-year-old woman is instead consumed by a credibility crisis of its own leader's making.
The broader pattern is familiar enough. Recent incidents involving federal law-enforcement personnel have reinforced public concern about accountability within agencies entrusted with public safety. When the people wearing the badge cannot be trusted to tell the truth under oath, the institution itself is compromised.
Nanos has until Tuesday. He can resign. He can retire. Or he can force the board to act under a law older than Arizona statehood itself. None of those options changes what the records from El Paso appear to show, or what he said under oath.
When a sheriff's sworn word and his own personnel file cannot occupy the same room, the people of Pima County deserve someone whose can.