PHOENIX — The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office handed sensitive internal investigations to a private firm whose owner had worked for the Cyber Ninjas 2020 election audit and for a group the monitor describes as spreading hate speech, according to a federal monitor’s report unsealed Monday.
The report, filed Aug. 6 and made public by U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow, is part of Melendres v. Sheridan, the long-running class-action racial profiling case that began in 2007 as Melendres v. Arpaio, Phoenix New Times reported. Axios Phoenix said the report runs 226 pages with exhibits.
The contract
MCSO hired AZ Truthfinder, a firm founded and run by former Gilbert police officer Stephanie Ameiss, to handle internal investigations that the agency’s Professional Standards Bureau could not do itself because of conflicts of interest. The firm was one of three bidders and has been paid about $270,000 since June 2025, according to Axios; Phoenix New Times put the total at $270,865.
Emails quoted in the report show top leaders moved quickly. Axios reported the decision came less than 24 hours after leadership reviewed the bids, and New Times reported the contract was awarded on June 17.
What the monitor says was missed
Ameiss’s résumé did not mention her work tied to Cyber Ninjas, the firm that ran the review commissioned by the Arizona Legislature of Maricopa County’s 2020 election results, or her roughly six years as an investigator for Understanding the Threat, a consulting firm the report says posted material attacking Muslims, Black Lives Matter activists and Democratic politicians, according to both outlets. New Times reported that she billed Cyber Ninjas $23,550 and that both companies are now defunct.
“Either the ‘vetting process’ was a sham; or any vetting that they did conduct revealed some of the same material we uncovered, but they chose to ignore it,” the report concludes. The monitor recommended the matter be referred for a possible misconduct investigation, Axios reported.
The sheriff’s response
MCSO spokesperson Chris Hegstrom told Axios the agency is reviewing the report and remains “committed to full and effective compliance with the Court’s orders.” Ameiss could not be reached by either outlet, and the Board of Supervisors, which approved the contract and an extension, did not immediately respond to Axios.
Raul Piña, a member of the court-appointed community advisory board, told Axios that if the agency was trying to build goodwill, “it seems like they are in a hurry to undo that.”
Why it matters now
The findings land as Sheriff Jerry Sheridan’s office and the county push to end federal oversight, citing compliance costs of more than $360 million. Judge Snow has refused, pointing to unfinished reforms, including a backlog of 240 internal complaint cases as of Aug. 31, Axios reported. A monitor’s audit last year found the agency had overstated those compliance costs by $160 million.
Photo: Tony Webster via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0). File photo of the Sandra Day O’Connor U.S. Courthouse in downtown Phoenix, January 2020.
Sources: Axios Phoenix; Phoenix New Times.
This article was produced with AI assistance and is based on reporting from Axios Phoenix and Phoenix New Times.