Attorney behind false cartel bribery claims is in legal trouble. And there's much more to his story

A lawyer whose legal attacks against his former wives formed the foundation of baseless "bribery" allegations against Gov. Katie Hobbs and other politicians faces sentencing next month for violating court orders related to his divorce.

Licensed to practice in Arizona and California, John Thaler has defied the law for two years, suing and filing false liens against perceived enemies and avoiding capture on warrants for ignoring court orders. Still, he maintains the backing of some on the far-right in Arizona.

His fanciful allegations, which were aired by his girlfriend at a public hearing in February, targeted specific elected officials, judges, Mesa's City Council and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as bribe-takers in an elaborate Mexican drug cartel scheme overseen by two women. Not just any two women — it was later revealed they were his ex-wife and former mother-in-law.

And it wasn't the first ex-wife he targeted with such allegations.

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers were outraged over the testimony, which was supposed to focus on election security. Blame fell on former Republican Rep. Liz Harris of Chandler, who had invited Thaler's girlfriend to speak at the hearing.

In April, lawmakers expelled Harris from the Legislature for lying about and trying to cover up what she knew of the testimony beforehand. The FBI and Maricopa County Sheriff's Office later determined the underlying information behind Thaler's claims, which stem from Thaler's divorce and child custody proceedings, were not worthy of an investigation.

None of Thaler's allegations have resulted in criminal charges, but Thaler himself has fought to stay out of jail.

Last month, he lost his appeal in Maricopa County Superior Court on 13 convictions from 2021 of violating orders of protection. A court order allowed him to contact his ex-wife, Brittany Thaler, or his mother-in-law, only to schedule care for their son, but he violated that "repeatedly," records show. For instance, one of Brittany Thaler's lawyers reported in one court motion that John Thaler sent about 600 pages of text messages to his mother-in-law within a two-month period.

He faces up to six months in jail at a sentencing hearing scheduled for Aug. 7. He's failed to appear in numerous court hearings in Mesa and has seven active warrants for his arrest that together would require him to post a cash bond of over $200,000 to get out of jail.

Detective Brandi George of the Mesa Police Department said Thaler was last apprehended in Phoenix in December 2021 on 21 active warrants. Police noted he had mental health issues and he was later released from jail, she said.

George confirmed Thaler's seven active warrants from Mesa and another from Gilbert that also had what George described as an unusually high bond amount of $150,000. Police believe he's living in California or Las Vegas and while he "obviously needs to be arrested," the department doesn't typically send officers to other states to track down someone for non-violent misdemeanors, she said.

Thaler, 59, also has a July 27 trial date scheduled in Maricopa County Superior Court for a felony charge of unlawful flight from law enforcement. In May of 2021, according to Tempe police, Thaler fled from police in his car as they attempted to apprehend him. A police spokesman said officers terminated the chase to avoid a public safety risk and later filed the charge against Thaler.

Thaler, a prolific Twitter user who champions right-wing causes, would not answer questions for this article but told The Arizona Republic he stands behind his claims.

Kari Lake: Why her election challenge appeal was moved from Phoenix to Tucson

Brittany Thaler, who was granted sole custody of the couple's child, declined to comment on the case before the sentencing. She outlined some of her grievances with her ex-husband in a 2020 statement to the court, including that John Thaler verbally and physically abused her.

In more than one email, according to Brittany Thaler's statement, her ex-husband said he "will do everything in his power to frustrate and increase the cost of litigation" in the divorce case.

Attorney calls Thaler a 'lawn sprinkler of blame'

Brittany Thaler's former lawyer, Greg Davis, noted that John Thaler refuses to comply with a longstanding court order to undergo a mental-health evaluation.

"We were dealing with a profoundly disordered person," Davis said about his experience working with John Thaler in the divorce case. "He said Brittany is a member of a criminal enterprise that has forged deeds and other recorded documents and liens and ... is an associate of a drug cartel. All you have to do is meet Brittany once to know that that's delusional."

'It warrants a criminal investigation': Prominent former prosecutor seeks probe of Cyber Ninjas

Thaler is a "lawn sprinkler of blame" who has made accusations about essentially everyone associated with his court cases, Davis said.

One of Davis' first actions in the case was to ask the court for permission to not respond to anything from John Thaler unless a court ordered him to. The request was granted.

"Otherwise, it would have cost Brittany tens of thousands of dollars for me to read these court motions with attachments that made no sense and came from another planet," Davis said.

Seeing Thaler's allegations in the divorce case go public in February only confirmed Davis' opinion of state lawmakers.

"In my experience, intelligence is not a requirement to serve on the state Legislature," he said. "So it doesn't surprise me that it was given a platform there."

After Davis retired in May 2021, he and his wife put their house on the market — and found that Thaler had placed a false lien on the home. When Davis moved to quash the lien, court staff found that Thaler had put similarly bogus liens on the homes of more than a dozen people, including those of court officers and family members of Brittany Thaler.

'I understand your skepticism'

Public records show that Thaler has used imaginative claims for years to abuse the legal system — and two of his ex-wives.

In 2012, Thaler filed an order of protection against his then-wife Dyan Reilly of Sierra Vista, her mother, and two family friends.

The group was involved in "tax evasion, money laundering, racketeering, bank fraud," hacking computers and dealing drugs, Thaler alleged in his petition for the order, which was not granted. Thaler wrote that when he "began to uncover the scheme," his enemies attacked with "various acts of violence" including an attempted vehicle collision, a poisoned drink and an attempt to inject Thaler with a drug while he was sleeping.

After divorcing Reilly, Thaler married Brittany in 2016 and later made the same sort of claims against her. In extensive court motions, John Thaler detailed the alleged crimes of his ex-wife and mother-in-law, various Arizona public officials and every judge, court officer and lawyer involved in his divorce case. In some court paperwork he said the Sinaloa cartel was behind the operation, at other times he said it was Russian mafia.

'Everyone knows John McCain in Ukraine': Arizona groups continue late senator's work in Ukraine

As he'd claimed in his previous marriage, John Thaler alleged that exposing his new wife's crimes had made him a target of his enemies. Thaler's girlfriend said in her testimony in February that Thaler would have given the presentation himself but for the "six attempts" to kill him, including a slashed tire meant to cause a crash. Thaler claimed that Brittany Thaler also once tried to poison his iced tea, court records state.

Asked about the similarities in the accusations against his ex-wives, Thaler responded, "I understand your skepticism," but explained only that "the similarity is that their lives were disrupted because of organized crime — but in entirely different ways."

He plans to reveal "extensive documentation" of his claims in an upcoming, self-published book about how "mass corruption" in Arizona fits in with his child-custody dispute. He would not comment on whether the book would publish before his Aug. 7 sentencing, or whether he would show up for that hearing or his July 27 court appearance.

For his appeal of the 13 convictions, Thaler used claims of corruption similar to those he'd made about elected officials. Two judges who were involved briefly with his case, plus Mesa's city prosecutor and assistant city prosecutor, had recorded trust deeds with forged notarizations by his ex-wife and mother-in-law, he alleged, adding that Mesa's government was "riddled with corruption."

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Joseph Mikitish, in his June 8 ruling against Thaler, wrote that Thaler's assertions are "not supported by anything in the record."

Thaler unsuccessfully tried to sue his ex-wife Brittany, her lawyers, judges and others in federal and county lawsuits. Arizona U.S. District Judge Douglas L. Rayes, in dismissing one of the cases, wrote that "Mr. Thaler's complaint weaves a delusional and fantastical narrative."

Yet recent online posts by former Rep. Harris and others show that some right-wing election conspiracy theorists still give credence to them.

"The scope of the many frauds and the depth of the corruption began to make sense," conservative writer Dennis Lund said in a June 20 column about the claims for American Thinker. "Further discussions with Thaler served to clarify my thoughts, troubling though they were."

Harris, who shared the column on social media, calling it "great," declined comment for this article.

False claims could have ongoing political fallout

Thaler's claims and the aftermath of the February presentation could affect next year's election in Legislative District 13, which covers Chandler and part of Gilbert and is where Harris served.

After a resignation in June of GOP leaders in the district, election conspiracy promoter Steve Steele — who said recently he still wonders if the Thaler claims are true — is now chair, and Harris is first vice-chair. Neither have expressed interest in running for office in 2024.

Harris remains a popular figure among some Republicans in the district who remain bitter over her ouster.

"We believe they were just looking for a reason to expel her," Steele said of the House members who voted to kick out Harris.

Reach the reporter at rstern@arizonarepublic.com or 480-276-3237. Follow him on Twitter @raystern.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: John Thaler, who made false cartel bribery claims in Ariz., faces jail