Pima County Supervisors Seek to Oust Sheriff Nanos Over Past Lies Under Oath

Pima County supervisors in Arizona want to remove Sheriff Chris Nanos from office. He heads the investigation into Nancy Guthrie's disappearance.

At least two supervisors will file a motion to vacate the sheriff's office if Nanos does not step down by Tuesday. That date marks 100 days since Guthrie vanished from her Tucson home.

The supervisors accuse Nanos of lying under oath in a deposition for an unrelated lawsuit. He denied being suspended as a police officer in El Paso, Texas, before joining the Pima County Sheriff's Department in the 1980s.

"A unanimous vote of the disciplinary board at that time for a whole host of problems said, 'Hey, he can't be a cop anymore. He's just bad at this and he's not upholding our standards … he's got to go,'" said Dr. Matt Heinz, a member of the Pima County Board of Supervisors.

CBS News obtained El Paso Police Department records. They show Nanos received several suspensions for infractions including unnecessary violence and tardiness.

"He has definitely lost the confidence of the community. He's embarrassed himself, and it's time for him to go," Heinz said.

Nanos' attorney wrote in a letter that the sheriff did not understand the question about discipline from a different agency not governed by the Arizona Peace Officer's Bill of Rights. The attorney said Nanos spotted the misunderstanding in the transcript right after the deposition and notified his lawyer.

The effort to remove Nanos follows criticism of his handling of the Guthrie case. FBI Director Kash Patel said the sheriff's department delayed FBI involvement.

"For four days, we were kept out of the investigation," Patel said in a podcast interview with Sean Hannity on Tuesday.

The sheriff's department posted a statement from Nanos on social media. It said a member of the FBI task force was on the scene the night Guthrie was first reported missing. Two days later, the Pima County Sheriff's Department held a news conference with the FBI.

Heinz said the push to oust Nanos has no connection to the Guthrie case.

"In no way has the Guthrie investigation ever factored into this. It really hasn't," he said.