Small-Town Arizona Judge Amasses Fortune, and Indictment
By SAM DILLON
NYT January 30, 2023
DOUGLAS, Ariz. -- The arrest of the local judge in this southwest border town on drug racketeering and money laundering charges last fall seemed to be one more disturbing sign that the multibillion-dollar narcotics trade was corrupting law enforcement, not only in Mexico, but north of the border, too.
But prosecutors preparing for the trial of the judge, Ronald J. Borane, have said that details emerging from scrutiny of his lengthy career suggest that he learned to disregard the law long before Douglas became a crossroads in the international drug trade.
Judge Borane amassed wealth and influence far beyond what could be expected of a small-town judge, the prosecutors said.
Judge Borane's brother, Ray, is the mayor of Douglas, which has a population of about 15,000. Ray Borane is not implicated in the case.
A lawsuit filed against Judge Borane in January asserts that he turned the local jail into a debtors' prison, repeatedly jailing poor laborers who were unable to settle debts with local property owners.
"As a judge, he saw himself as a law unto himself," said John R. Evans, the Arizona assistant attorney general, who is coordinating the prosecution.
After a two-year drug investigation, Judge Borane was arrested on Sept. 9 in Tucson, where he was attending a judicial conference.
Investigators said the judge invested $5,000, twice, in two sham drug deals described to him by an undercover agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation while video cameras rolled. Judge Borane was given at least $26,500, which he was told was his share of profits from the deals.
The investigation of Judge Borane was carried out by federal agents, but the United States attorney in Arizona deferred prosecution to the state authorities. The four felony charges against him carry a maximum total sentence of 50 years, but state authorities said it was possible that, if convicted, he could be sentenced to probation.
William Walker of Tucson, the defense lawyer, said that Judge Borane believed he had been investing in a legitimate deal involving the marketing of surplus United States Army uniforms.
"This is an outrageous case of government entrapment," Mr. Walker said.
[Judge Borane served simultaneously as justice of the peace and Douglas city magistrate. For five months after his arrest, he continued to draw his $113,000 joint salary, insisting he would be exonerated and returned to the bench. But on Jan. 21 he resigned and promised not to seek office again after Arizona's Commission on Judicial Conduct agreed to drop an investigation of his court. [In a separate review still under way, the Arizona Supreme Court announced on Jan. 26 that a preliminary finding showed that Judge Borane had coerced defendants into pleading guilty, used his court to circulate political petitions, and allowed businesses in Douglas, including Wal-Mart, to issue criminal complaints against customers who wrote bad checks. The judge's salary was based in part on the number of cases he handled.]
The judge's arrest stunned most of the establishment in Arizona. "He was highly regarded," said Anita L. Sanchez, the Douglas city attorney. "Everybody is devastated. Nobody knows quite what to think." But, the arrest was less surprising to others who had watched him build his power and reputation in Cochise County, a region of sweeping desert vistas that borders Mexico and New Mexico.
"Joe Borane has no scruples whatsoever," said Alberto Rodriguez, a retired Army colonel and former mayor of Douglas, who has known the judge since childhood. "He's the greediest person I've ever run across."
With a high school education, Mr. Borane rose from Douglas town patrolman and police chief to magistrate, justice of the peace and power broker, prosecutors and his former associates said. A prolific fund-raiser for the Democratic Party, he built a statewide reputation, serving for a decade on an elite panel that reviews the conduct of Arizona judges.
Along the way, he bought nearly 200 houses, ranches and businesses that made him the county's largest landowner, with assets he declared in February 1999 at $5.9 million, according to county property records. County officials said his real estate assets were worth far more than that declared value. The judge said his net worth at that time was $4.7 million.
Mr. Borane began to build his wealth in the 1970's, when he headed the Douglas police, fire, animal control and weights and measures departments, with the catch-all title of safety director.
Mr. Rodriguez, who was elected mayor of Douglas in 1978 after returning from an Army career, said Mr. Borane had used patronage to build a broad political base that gave him effective control of the City Council. Ordering an investigation of city finances, Mr. Rodriguez said he discovered ticket-fixing, contract-rigging and other forms of graft, with much of it linked to Mr. Borane.
Mr. Borane was not charged in the inquiry but resigned his posts in 1979 as the investigation advanced. A year later, he became justice of the peace, taking control of a courtroom with 12 plastic chairs and jurisdiction over misdemeanor cases. He was re-elected several times.
In 1986, after Judge Borane was driving his car when it crashed, killing a passenger, the police determined that the judge's blood alcohol level was 0.17. In Arizona, drivers with a level of 0.10 are presumed to be under the influence. No charges were filed.
In 1990, Judge Borane again came under scrutiny after the discovery of a cross-border tunnel used to smuggle tons of cocaine into Douglas from Mexico. Investigators found that Judge Borane had sold the warehouse hiding the tunnel's Douglas entrance to the drug traffickers who operated the tunnel, earning windfall profits on the sale.
No charges were filed against Judge Borane in the tunnel inquiry. In the mid-1990's, Judge Borane began to use his court as a debt collection agency, ordering indigents held in jail until they made payments, court records show.
"The 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution abolished forever the concept of debtor's prison from American shores, except, apparently, in Douglas, Ariz., " wrote Ralph Malanga, the lawyer for an indigent client in a 1999 lawsuit challenging Judge Borane's actions. "This case demonstrates a grotesque miscarriage of justice and a heedless indifference by the judge to the rule of law."
The Cochise County attorney, saying that Judge Borane had ordered the arrests without advising other authorities, did not contest Mr. Malanga's petition. As a judge, Mr. Borane is immune from prosecution for his decisions.
Judge Borane's jury trial is scheduled to begin June 6.