Phoenix News Blog

Those already plugged in to the 140-characters-or-less phenomenon known as Twitter undoubtedly know that someone claiming to be Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has been sending out tweets on a daily basis. Is Joe_Arpaio the real thing? We were unsure before (because it's hard to imagine Old Joe tweeting, at all) and now that another Sheriff Joe has appeared in the twitterverse, we're very confused.

A twitter user named "RealSheriffJoe" invaded twitter on Friday, June 5 with a tweet of "Just met with a reporter/editor from the paper." He followed up this initial update with another one on June 8: "Just got done having a staff meeting."

Riveting.

So who is the real Arpaio? Is it Joe_Arpaio or RealSheriffJoe? We may just find out tonight. RealSheriffJoe claims in a June 9 tweet that Channel 5 News has interviewed him about his Twitter account.

"Tune in tonight to find out who the REAL Sheriff Joe is..." he said.

 

With dry updates like "heading into the office," we think RealSheriffJoe is the more likely candidate of the two (if either of them are actually the real thing). 

The subtle wit and comedic bite of Joe_Arpaio gives him away as an obvious fake. A sense of humor is something the genuine article has never displayed to our knowledge.

Just today, Joe_Arpaio tweeted to let us know he was planning to eat at Lolo's Chicken and Waffles for the first time today at lunch. When we re-tweeted his update, he fired back at us with the following:

"@phoenixnewtimes Don't you have anything better to do than follow me around? It's a lunch hour not an immigration bust."