BISBEE — Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever’s actions related to one of his former employees are coming under scrutiny by his opponent in his bid for re-election, but the incumbent maintains he did nothing inappropriate.

In the fall of 2007, Dever was approached by Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI officials regarding the possible association of a Sheriff’s Office employee named Ron Hager in a drug smuggling operation.

At the time, Hager, who started working for the Sheriff’s Office in the mid-1990s, was the bureau chief in charge of the jail and administration services. About six weeks later, Dever forced Hager to resign from his position.

Norm Bradley, who is challenging Dever in the upcoming Nov. 4 general election, contends, however, that he has been told Dever was aware of problems involving Hager a few years earlier and did not do anything about it.

Anthony Coulson, assistant special agent in charge of the DEA in Tucson, said Hager has been subpoenaed to testify at the upcoming trial of Carlos “Calichi” Molinares Nunez, of Naco, Sonora.

Molinares was arrested in December 2006 and charged with continuing a criminal enterprise and conspiracy to posses with intent to distribute marijuana. His arrest was the result of “Operation Vanquish,” a three-year investigation involving the DEA, FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Bisbee Police Department.

His trial is scheduled to start Jan. 9 in U.S. District Court in Tucson, Coulson said. The case file is sealed, and as a result the Herald/Review is unable to get any additional information on it.

Coulson also said the FBI is conducting a public corruption investigation involving Hager’s activities. However, Manuel Johnson, spokesman for the FBI in Phoenix, said, “The FBI can’t confirm or deny in reference to an ongoing investigation involving Ron Hager.

It is unknown if criminal charges are pending against Hager at this time.

Coulson said some of Hager’s activities showed up in the process of conducting “Operation Vanquish.” Then, after Molinares was arrested, investigators started seeing some of the activities that Hager was involved with.

When Dever was asked to help determine whether Hager committed public corruption acts, he searched for any documents that might provide evidence in the investigation.

“I didn’t discover anything that would rise to the level of suggesting that the integrity of the organization was compromised or that he had used his official capacity for the furtherance of any kind of criminal activity associated with the smuggling group, but given the nature of the investigation and the existence of those relationships, it was very, very clear that he just simply couldn’t work for me anymore,” Dever said.

Dever waited a short period of time before terminating Hager because he had made an agreement with DEA and FBI officials that he would not act on Hager until they had time to complete interviews.

“They did not want to compromise the investigation,” the Republican candidate said.

Bradley, on the other hand, said he has gathered secondhand information that causes him to question the incumbent’s actions, including having promoted Hager despite the accusations against him.

The Democratic candidate said he was told by Lance Crosthwait, a former chief deputy in the Sheriff’s Office, that Dever knew about Hager’s activities since at least 2005 but Dever covered for Hager and now he is making it look like he was part of the investigation to help the feds. Crosthwait confirmed for the Herald/Review that he told Bradley this statement.

Bradley said he also was told by former members of the Border Alliance Group who are either still active or recently retired that Dever was informed as early as the summer of 2004 that Hager was somebody of interest within the drug enforcement community.

“My concern goes directly to what did he know and when did he know it, and what did he know about it between the time that he was told, and when agent Coulson goes to Dever in October of 2007 and says, ‘We’ve got a problem. We want your cooperation’,” Bradley said.

Bradley emphasized that he doesn’t have any firsthand knowledge to support these allegations, but, he added, “If any of this is true, then what was our sheriff doing to protect his deputies and to protect the citizens?”

In response, Dever said “it is simply not true” that he was informed back in 2005 that there was an issue involving Hager.

“Occasionally in the organization, somebody’s activities are in question and I deal with those the same way I deal with the public. I say bring me the evidence. Don’t bring me your opinion and don’t bring me your speculation. Bring me some evidence and if there is something to deal with, we will deal with it. But I am not going to be chasing ghosts around with innuendo and rumor. And that just simply never occurred until the federal agents came to me,” Dever said.

Dever pointed out that to his knowledge Hager has not been charged with a crime and he does not know if he will be charged. Hager could not be reached for comment by Wick News Service.