The sheriff at the helm of the search for Nancy Guthrie is facing renewed scrutiny as past allegations of misconduct resurface, adding to the challenges of his leadership.

Chris Nanos, currently under pressure for his management of the Guthrie case, has been implicated in a 2016 incident where he allegedly “jabbed” a deputy during a heated exchange, according to a report from the Tucson Police Department.

During the encounter, it was reported that Nanos, in a state of heightened agitation, repeatedly poked the deputy in the chest following a departmental meeting.

Additionally, the sheriff is accused of forcefully “slapping” the officer on the shoulder during the same incident.

The officer involved was reportedly disturbed by the altercation, having previously filed an HR complaint about a “hostile work environment” before the incident occurred.

“Leadership should inspire; it should be rooted in reflection, action, and accountability,” commented a senior law enforcement official from Tucson.

‘It is not supposed to be driven by ego, intimidation, or self-preservation. And that is exactly where Sheriff Nanos has failed.’  

Documents show that Nanos was accused of assaulting a police officer – a felony which carries a maximum sentence of 12½ years in prison – although ultimately charges were never brought, Tucson Police Department confirmed to the Daily Mail.

Nancy, the mother of Today host Savannah Guthrie, was snatched from her house in the affluent Catalina Foothills area of Tucson, Arizona, in the early hours of Sunday, February 1

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos is facing mounting criticism over the handling of the Nancy Guthrie missing person case 

‘When the highest-ranking law enforcement officer can be accused of that type of conduct and nothing happens, it undermines the entire system’, the law enforcement source added.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department did not respond to a request for comment. 

News of the allegations comes as Nanos faces mounting criticism over his handling of the search for Guthrie, the mother of the Today show’s Savannah Guthrie, who vanished from her Arizona home in a case that has gripped the nation.

He has been hit by a slew of criticism for his handling of the search for the missing 84-year-old and is even facing a potential recall election.

 But records show that his problems span more than four decades, with a range of disciplinary issues against his name.

Documents seen by the Daily Mail show that while working as a patrolman in El Paso, Texas, Nanos found himself at the heart of another scandal.

In March 1982, he was suspended after a robbery suspect he had arrested was rushed to hospital with a serious head injury.

Nanos has come under increasing scrutiny amid the Guthrie investigation, and now Daily Mail has learned he has faced an allegation of physically confronting a subordinate while in his post

Nanos has served as Pima County Sheriff since January 2021  but has been with the department for over four decades 

Officials initially stated that the man had been hurt while allegedly resisting arrest.

But police sources claimed that the suspect had been struck with a flashlight, with the injured man then filing an assault complaint.

He claimed he had been beaten after being handcuffed, kicked in the legs and struck in the head before losing consciousness.

Nanos was initially suspended indefinitely without pay while a criminal investigation was conducted. The suspension was ultimately reduced to 15 days after an internal review.

He was not charged criminally. 

It was not an isolated incident, with internal affairs documents showing a steady stream of complaints and disciplinary issues attached to Nanos’s name during his time in El Paso.

Allegations ranged from using excessive force to abusive language, alongside reprimands for misconduct and repeated suspensions for infractions including tardiness and behavior while off-duty.

Questions surrounding his leadership have also surfaced more recently.

A 2020 report by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office into a separate federal investigation detailed how senior figures within the Pima County Sheriff’s Department were accused of exploiting funding rules to channel public money through a nonprofit linked to the force.

The review noted that funding requests tied to the scheme were approved at the highest levels of the department, including Nanos, although no criminal charges were brought against him.

Christopher Radtke, the Chief Deputy overseeing the Administrative Services Bureau, was federally indicted on charges including conspiracy to commit money laundering and theft relating to the misuse of RICO funds, before those charges were dropped and he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor theft offenses.

He was sentenced to probation, fined, and agreed not to seek future law enforcement employment within the county.

Nanos lost his office shortly after Chief Deputy Christopher Radtke (right) was convicted for the alleged misuse of $500,000 in 2017 but was re-elected in 2020 and again in 2024

Nanos was criticized for taking time off to watch the Arizona Wildcats basketball team defeat Oklahoma State at the height of the Nancy Guthrie investigation 

Another chief deputy, Bradley Gagnepain killed himself during the course of the investigation, with Nanos at the time saying: ‘I will be meeting with each and every one of my command staff within the organization and will take the time necessary to explain to them the extent I understand and am able to disclose and how and why certain events came to be.

‘We cannot and will not tarnish this office that’s been trusted to me. Nor will I allow without consequence to anyone else to do the same.’

It comes after the Daily Mail revealed that investigators searching for Nancy Guthrie have reluctantly come round to the view that she is dead more than six weeks after being abducted from her $1 million home.

‘Is she alive? I think that’s very unlikely,’ a source close to the probe somberly told us. ‘Everybody is coming to grips with that.’

Nancy was snatched from her house in the affluent Catalina Foothills area of Tucson, Arizona, in the early hours of Sunday, February 1. 

She has lived in the house for more than 50 years and Savannah and her sister Annie, 56, grew up there.

Since that day Savannah, 54, and her close family have endured continual heartbreak amid an initially massive but so far fruitless search by Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI.

Nanos was accused by several sources of ‘locking down’ the probe amid escalating tensions between his team and federal agents.

In particular, he allegedly kept key decisions to himself and two of his highest-ranking inner circle, effectively sidelining the small team of relatively inexperienced investigators at his disposal.

But now four Pima County detectives are working directly out of the Tucson FBI building in a shake-up welcomed by other officers frustrated at Nanos’s approach to the probe.

The disappearance of Nancy Guthrie has gripped the nation for weeks with monetary rewards offered in exchange for her return

Investigators have reluctantly come round to the possibility that Nancy is dead more than six weeks after being abducted from her $1 million home

At one point, the sheriff’s department tip line center was receiving up to 4,000 calls a day. 

But that has now subsided to a trickle of around two dozen and just two people are manning the phones, said the source.

Meanwhile, the $6 million Bitcoin ransom demand letters, which put the Guthrie family through inexplicable extra turmoil with two cruel deadlines, are now largely being discounted, we are told.

They appeared to reveal inside information not known to the public. ‘But the general view now is that these were fakes, people just trying to get some money out of the situation,’ said the source.

Savannah returned to New York City after several weeks holed up with her close family in Tucson, in plans first revealed by the Daily Mail. The co-anchor grew up with elder sister Annie, 56, in Nancy’s house.

She was seen visiting NBC colleagues in Rockefeller Center last week in an emotional appearance away from the TV cameras.

The star, a mom of two young children and married to Democrat political adviser Michael Feldman, announced a $1 million reward for Nancy’s return in her February 24 video.

Fighting tears, she said: ‘It is day 24 since our mom was taken in the dark of night from her bed.

‘And every hour and minute and second and every long night has been agony since then. Worrying for her, fearing for her, aching for her.

‘We still believe. We still believe in a miracle. We still believe that she can come home.

‘Hope against hope, as my sister says, we are blowing on the embers of hope.’

Nanos first came under the critical spotlight when investigators probed the crime scene on four occasions, but each time left allowing almost anyone access – and possibly contaminating undiscovered evidence.

The Daily Mail also reported his alleged mishandling of the very first hours of the search for Nancy that included a serious delay in sending up a vital search-and-rescue aircraft.