Attorney General declines to prosecute Quartzsite Police Chief

Quartzsite Police Chief Jeff Gilbert says he has been exonerated of wrongdoing by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, after the prosecutor declined to act on complaints initiated by Mayor Ed Foster.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) investigated Gilbert and Quartzsite Police Sergeant Xavier Frausto, according to Gilbert’s statement, on the basis of one of several complaints filed over the course of a several months.

Parker Live has not seen a copy of the report. Gilbert says the Town will probably release a redacted version, while Foster says he isn’t sure which investigation the report relates to or exactly what the complaint involved.

Gilbert says he received a copy of the investigation on August 13th, which included the Attorney General’s ‘Turndown’ notice declining the case. He says the case was declined for the following reasons: “Victim/Witness Credibility Problems”; “Inadequate Evidence of Intent”; “Inadequate Evidence of Corroboration”; and “No Reasonable Likelihood of Conviction”.

In a statement issued yesterday, Gilbert said that this was the third criminal investigation he had been subject to, and added an allegation of his own, saying that Foster had fabricated the initial complaint:

“I have documented evidence that Ed Foster participated with another party and submitted a fabricated and forged letter to DPS in 2010 in an attempt to lend credibility to the first of his false allegations and complaints. While I brought this matter to the attention of DPS, to my knowledge they declined any further investigation of the incident.”

Foster denies these allegations, saying he did so on the stand. Gilbert said Foster’s campaign to discredit him as the Chief of Police continues to this day, and cites a waste of taxpayer money, “not to mention the undue hardship that was created to the community, the Town, the Department, Sgt. Frausto, myself and our families.”