PHOENIX — A former president of Arizona's union for correctional officers has been sentenced to 1.5 years in prison for spending more than $130,000 of the union's money on personal expenses.
Darren Sikes, who resigned from the Arizona Correctional Peace Officers Association in 2019, was sentenced on Thursday after pleading guilty to theft and fraud.
Sikes and his 25-year-old daughter, Samantha, were indicted last year after the Arizona Attorney General's Office uncovered evidence they had been misappropriating the union's money.
Between 2016 and 2019, investigators believe the father and daughter had spent at least $134,000 on personal vehicles and home renovations.
Members of the ACPOA pay union fees so that the association's leaders will lobby on their behalf for better working conditions.
Sikes, 60, became the association's president in 2016 and would regularly speak on behalf of the state's correctional officers to the media and state leaders.
He and several other ACPOA leaders were forced out of their positions after state investigators began looking into the association's finances.
Samantha Sikes was placed on probation last month and the court ordered her to pay $23,000 in restitution to the prison union.
Her father will be placed on probation after he completes his prison sentence.
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