Controversial Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio and former New Mexico U.S. Attorney David Iglesias are involved in a controversy related to an FBI investigation, Talking Points Memo highlights. Arpaio, known as “America’s toughest sheriff” is currently under investigation by the FBI for targeting his political foes in apparent retaliation, according to KHPO, a Phoenix area TV station.

Iglesias told KPHO, that he would “seek an indictment” against Arpaio if he were the U.S. Attorney in Arpaio’s area. Then things get even stranger, with Arpaio’s office releasing a statement attacking Iglesias’ reputation.

The statement reads in part:

Rather than dignify the reporter and his piece with a lengthy response to assertions made, we will simply respond with a few ‘facts’ of our own.

Their expert interview who insisted that an indictment be sought against Sheriff Arpaio also said that no where in America should Arpaio’s tactics ever be tolerated. His name is David Iglesias. This is the same attorney who was fired in 2006 by the US Attorney General for several different reasons.

Iglesias was criticized for looking the other way in an investigation involving ACORN, an organization that embraces illegal immigration and is currently under intense scrutiny and investigation by the US government for fraudulent schemes.

Iglesias said after testimony by former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and former White House counsel Harriet Miers that he felt “100 percent vindicated” as his firing and that his firing was for improper reasons.

Arpaio is controversial for his tactics on arresting illegal immigrants, drawing numerous complaints from civil rights organizations of racial profiling. Early last month, Arpaio lost some of his ability to make immigration arrests.

This latest controversy, however, is about an abuse of powers in relation to Arpaio’s office investigating political opponents of Arpaio just because they are political opponents. Included are Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, former Mesa police chief George Gascon and others.

“None of the investigations resulted in convictions; however, they cost the targets hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and tarnished reputations,” the KPHO report says.

Perhaps Iglesias should count himself lucky that he doesn’t reside in Maricopa County.