A Maricopa County Sheriff's detention officer was found in contempt of court Wednesday for his decision to remove a document from a defense attorney's file during a sentencing hearing last month.

The officer was ordered by a judge to hold a press conference to apologize for his actions - an order that Sheriff Joe Arpaio immediately said would be defied.

�My officer was doing his job and I will not stand by and allow him to be thrown to the wolves by the courts because they feel pressure from the media on this situation,� Arpaio said in a press release. He further said, "I decide who holds press conferences and when they are held regarding this Sheriff�s Office.�

Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe ruled that Officer Adam Stoddard acted in contempt when he pulled two pieces of hand-written paper out of attorney Joanne Cuccia's file on Oct. 19 during a sentencing hearing for Antonio Lozano.

Stoddard testified earlier this month that he saw four words - "going to" "steal" and "money" - in a document sticking out of Cuccia's file that led him to believe Lozano posed some sort of security threat.

The "totality of circumstances" taking place in the court room that day, including the presence of Lozano's associates and Stoddard's belief that Lozano had some history with the Mexican Mafia, all informed his decision, the detention officer testified.

Donahoe disagreed, finding that the presence of those four words on the document didn't pose any immediate security threat and that in removing the privileged communication from Cuccia's file, Stoddard acted unreasonably.

"Even giving DO Stoddard the benefit of the doubt that he had a right to scan the entire paragraph which was in plain sight after seeing the "key words" to determine if Defendant presented an immediate security risk, nothing in that paragraph justified DO Stoddard's continued conduct of removing the document from counsel's file and having the document copied," Donahoe wrote.

Donahoe found that another deputy working in court that day, Francisco Campillo, who made a copy of the documents Stoddard seized, did not act in contempt.

During a hearing last week, Donahoe wrestled with an appropriate punishment for Stoddard if he were to be found in contempt. Cuccia had expressed concerns about the damage to her professional reputation, particularly after a sheriff's official, in a written statement, seemed to excuse Stoddard's actions by linking Cuccia with two attorneys were recently sentenced for or arrested on suspicion of smuggling contraband to inmates.

By Tuesday, Donahoe had determined that Stoddard should hold a news conference outside the Central Court Building by Nov. 30 and offer Cuccia "a sincere verbal and written apology for invading her defense file and for the damage that his conduct may have caused to her professional reputation."

If Stoddard refuses, or Cuccia is not satisfied with the apology, Donahoe ordered Stoddard to report to jail on Dec. 1.

The case became national news after surveillance footage emerged that shows Stoddard move behind Lozano and take a few steps forward before looking down at the defense attorney's table. The footage shows Stoddard pulling out a document sticking out of a file. Stoddard then calls over a Campillo to make copies.

Lozano, 26, was appearing before Judge Lisa Flores to receive his sentence for an aggravated assault he had pleaded guilty to in September, though Stoddard's decision to remove the document calls that into question, too: a public defender said she was going to file a motion to dismiss the case and ask for a change of venue.