The author of Arizona’s tough immigration law appeared stunned and disturbed when asked Friday about Christopher Allen Simcox, the co-founder of the vigilante border group Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and a former Republican candidate for U.S. Senate who was arrested earlier this week on suspicion of child molestation.
Former Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce, who worked with Simcox on immigration legislation in the state, said the accusations were “disturbing to say the least” but indicated that he preferred to withhold judgment until more facts came to light.
“I’m very cautious to comment when I first hear a report, I know he’s gone through an ugly divorce, I don’t know if this stems from that, you just don’t know,” Pearce told Channel 3.
Pearce said that if someone were to molest one of his 14 grandchildren, he’d be “tempted to be a Second Amendment user.”
He said he hopes and prays Simcox is innocent, but added, “Good people do stupid things sometimes, bad things.”