David Hendershott, Joe Arpaio's Chief Deputy, Facing Foreclosure, Docs Show

By Sarah Fenske Fri., Apr. 2 2010 at 8:42 AM

Categories: All the Sheriff's, Um, Men

David Hendershott, Sheriff Joe Arpaio's right-hand man, could lose his Peoria home.

It's a bit ironic, but Sheriff Joe Arpaio's number-two guy, Chief Deputy David Hendershott, could lose his home at a so-called sheriff's sale June 4.

County records show that Hendershott, who has been with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office since 1979, took out a $774,500 mortgage on his Peoria home in 2006. Now he appears to be in default on the loan -- to the point that the bank has scheduled the property for auction.

The bank filed notice of the scheduled auction with the county recorder on February 25. It'll be canceled if Hendershott can make good on payment.

Hendershott is famously well-paid; he "retired" from the Sheriff's Office in 1999 and was rehired at a salary of $120,000 plus his $51,000 annual pension. But that apparently just isn't enough to make his mortgage payment. Oops!

This isn't Hendershott's first financial trouble, either. According to a 2009 profile in the Arizona Republic, he and his wife have already filed for bankruptcy twice, in 1986 and 1997.

And documents suggest this loan, from Countrywide, is actually the second mortgage on the property. When Hendershott took it out, he already had a $440,000 mortgage on the property.

Hendershott probably should have saved up his money instead of spending it to defame Sheriff Joe's political opponents.

But what the heck: Had Dan Saban ousted Sheriff Arpaio, Hendershott would likely be in even worse financial shape. Pretty hard to survive this days on just one salary.