The sheriff leading the investigation into the unsolved disappearance of Nancy Guthrie has a checkered past in law enforcement including allegedly beating a handcuffed suspect and threatening witnesses, new records allege. 

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, 70, was suspended eight times when he worked for the El Paso Police Department in Texas early in his career, reports Arizona Republic. 

The outlet obtained records from Nanos’ past through a public records request, which detailed a litany of alleged violations from Nanos when he was a young police officer.

Nanos was accused of using excessive force against suspects, making a false statement to authorities, off-duty gambling, and tardiness on the job, the records reportedly showed. 

In one allegation, Nanos was suspended after being accused of beating a handcuffed suspect so badly he was hospitalized and suffered severe blood loss, a suspension notice showed. 

Another alleged incident saw Nanos disciplined for using profanity to insult women, and another said he made threats to ‘waste’ a witness who made a complaint against him, records said. 

Nanos then lied to authorities about having stopped the witness on the street, according to the records. 

The bombshell report comes as Nanos faced scrutiny for his handling of the investigation into Guthrie’s disappearance on February 1 from her home in Tucson, Arizona.  

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, who led the unsolved disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, has a checkered past in law enforcement including allegedly beating a handcuffed suspect, new records show

Nanos faced scrutiny for his handling of the investigation into Savannah Guthrie’s mother Nancy’s disappearance on February 1 from her home in Tucson, Arizona

According to the reported records, Nanos was also punished during his time as a cop in Texas for gambling on a pool game, when he was busted by undercover cops. 

In other alleged instances, Nanos was disciplined for sleeping through his alarm and showing up late to his shifts, the Republic reported. 

Nanos’s longest suspension was for 15 days, when he was accused of beating a handcuffed robbery suspect so severely he hospitalized him. 

The incident in March 1982 was allegedly triggered by an ‘intoxicated and uncooperative’ suspect, which led officers to use force to detain him including throwing him against a patrol vehicle and striking him in the face ‘several times.’ 

The suspect filed a police assault charge report against Nanos, but a grand jury declined to indict him. 

His second-longest suspension came in June 1980 after Nanos allegedly used profane language about the wife of suspect Wayne Robertson, when Robertson refused to give his address during an arrest because he didn’t want his wife to be bothered. 

Nanos allegedly told Robertson, ‘I wouldn’t f*** with your sl**’, before threatening to take Robertson ‘to the desert and beat the hell out of him.’

After complaining about the incident, a witness was reportedly stopped on the street a week later by Nanos and was warned he would be stopped ‘every time’ he was seen in public, and was warned ‘one of these nights I will waste you’, the records showed. 

Nanos then denied having stopped the witness, but dispatchers logs showed he had called in a warrants check on the man, and Nanos was suspended for 10 days for lying.  

However, the records were not entirely bad for Nanos, as a document from 1979 credited him with saving his partner’s life by shooting a suspect from a rooftop. 

Nanos was accused of using excessive force against suspects, making a false statement to authorities, off-duty gambling, and tardiness on the job early in his career as a police officer, records showed 

In recent weeks, Nanos was ordered to provide sworn testimony to the Pima County Board of Supervisors about whether he lied about his early career as a police officer to county officials. 

The Board of Supervisors demanded Nanos’ deposition following reports alleging he misrepresented his work history before joining the Pima County Sheriff’s Department in 1984. 

He was reportedly forced to resign from the El Paso Police Department in 1982, raising questions how he was hired just two years later in Arizona, eventually rising to the position of Sheriff in 2020. 

Nanos said in a statement that he would be providing answers to the board about his history. 

‘Sheriff Chris Nanos remains committed to full compliance and will continue to operate with openness and transparency moving forward,’ spokesperson Brittany Abarr said.

‘His priority remains maintaining public trust and serving the community with integrity.’ 

The Daily Mail has contacted the Pima County Sheriff’s Department regarding the latest documents release about Nanos’s past.  

Surveillance footage from Nancy’s doorbell camera showed a masked man appearing to break into her property in the middle of the night, but no suspects have been arrested or publicly identified 

Nanos has faced severe scrutiny for his handling of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, which remains unsolved over two months on from her being abducted from her home. 

Last month, he was criticized for declaring that he has ‘no regrets’ over the investigation, despite failing to find the 84-year-old or arrest any suspects. 

Nanos insisted in an interview with News4 Tucson that he is unapologetic about the unsolved case.

Asked if the search ‘went the way you wanted it to go’, Nanos responded: ‘Yes absolutely.’

Nancy was taken from her home on the night of February 1, with surveillance footage from her doorbell camera later showing a masked suspect appearing to break into her property in the middle of the night.

Investigators found key evidence including blood droplets at her door and several gloves around her home, but authorities were unable to link any DNA evidence or items to any suspects – with Nanos criticized for sending the evidence to a private lab instead of using the FBI. 

The search also saw two individuals briefly apprehended 10 days and 13 days into the investigation, only for them both to be released without charges after it was found they were not connected to the case.

As the case floundered a week into Nancy’s disappearance, and with the eyes of the nation on Nanos, he was also criticized for going to a basketball game while others carried on the search 

Pima County Deputies Organization president Aaron Cross told The New York Post that authorities in the county have grown frustrated with Nanos’s leadership, saying it is ‘a common belief in this agency that this case has become an ego case for Sheriff Nanos.’

Soon after news of Nancy’s abduction made national headlines, her Today Show host daughter Savannah Guthrie reportedly wanted to issue a big reward to boost leads for her mother.

But Nanos was accused of stopping the family from doing so, fearing that an influx of tips could muddy his investigation, sources told Fox News in February.

Savannah eventually did issue the reward 24 days into the search, with the case remaining unsolved ever since.

In the early hours of the case, Nanos also allegedly failed to deploy a crucial search-and-rescue aircraft, grounding the vital device when it was needed most.

As the case floundered a week into Nancy’s disappearance, and with the eyes of the nation on Nanos, the sheriff was also criticized for going to a basketball game while others carried on the search.