Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio officially facing criminal contempt charges

Joe Arpaio, the sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, who has garnered national attention for his hardline approach to dealing with undocumented immigrants, was officially charged on Tuesday with criminal contempt of court.

The Justice Department said two weeks ago that Arpaio, 84, would be charged, but the misdemeanor count was not officially filed until Tuesday. Arpaio is serving his fifth term as sheriff, and is up for re-election in two weeks; if convicted, he could face up to six months in jail. In December 2011, a judge issued a court order that banned Arpaio's deputies from detaining people based only on the suspicion they were an undocumented immigrant and without cause to believe they committed a crime, The Arizona Republic reports. The judge determined two years later that Arpaio's office had racially profiled Latinos, with officers continuing to detain undocumented immigrants for more than a year after the original court order. Arpaio has said he unintentionally defied the order. The trial is set to begin on Dec. 6.

Arpaio's opponent in the sheriff's race, Paul Penzone, called the charge "another example of the sheriff putting his own personal objectives ahead of the best interest of the community at our expense." Arpaio's lawyer, Mel McDonald, said his client will plead not guilty, and they "believe that when the final chapter is written, he will be vindicated." Arpaio has been investigated before, including four years ago when it was alleged he retaliated against two police officers and a judge by accusing them of corruption. So far, Maricopa County taxpayers have had to pay $48 million to defend Arpaio in the racial profiling case, and that number is expected to balloon up to $72 million by next summer, The Associated Press reports.

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