Restaurateur whose business was raided by sheriff gets $3.1M

By JACQUES BILLEAUD
Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) — Maricopa County officials have approved a $3.1 million settlement with a restaurant owner in metro Phoenix who claimed in a lawsuit that then-Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s office defamed him and violated his rights about seven years ago when investigating whether employees at his restaurants used fraudulent IDs to get jobs. The settlement Wednesday with Uncle Sam’s owner Bret Frimmel came two weeks after officials signed off on a separate $400,000 settlement to resolve similar claims brought by Uncle Sam’s manager Lisa Norton. Frimmel and Norton were arrested by Arpaio’s office on employment-related identity theft charges that were later dismissed. Frimmel and Norton maintained they did nothing wrong.