Laurie Roberts

opinion columnist

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio may be out in a few weeks. But he still knows how to suck in a crowd of reporters.

It appears the ousted sheriff is planning one final publicity stunt on Thursday.

Cue the sheriff's office: "Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Chief Investigator Mike Zullo will be presenting their newest revelations to the years long investigation of the birth certificate presented by the White House in 2011 of President Obama."

ROBERTS: Arpaio's birther quest to continue. Really

Never mind that in September, America’s most famous birther, Donald Trump, acknowledged that the controversy that largely launched his political career is bogus.

"President Obama was born in the United States. Period," he told reporters.

Perhaps it’s over in the rest of the country. But this is Arizona, home of America’s Most Intrepid Ousted Sheriff.

Sex crimes can wait. This is important!

Remember, it was Arpaio who in 2012 dispatched a deputy and his volunteer posse to Hawaii as part of his criminal investigation into Obama’s birth certificate. (It was, after all, an election year.)

Arpaio’s island forces proceeded to storm the lobby of the Hawaii Health Department and develop “numerous investigate leads,” despite assurances by both former and current Hawaii health department officials that Obama's birth certificate is the real deal.

"We feel that that document is a forgery," Arpaio said at the time. "We're trying to figure out who did it. That's good police work."

Yep, all those uninvestigated reports of sex crimes against minors here in Maricopa County? Those could wait. It was far more important to get boots on the ground, er, flip flops in the sand, in Hawaii.

The following year, Arpaio's lead investigator on the case, Mike Zullo, announced that the investigation had turned up shocking evidence.

Get ready to shatter the universe on Thursday

“When this information is finally exposed to the public, it will be universe-shattering,” Zullo told WND, one of those websites that breathlessly covers all things birther. “This is beyond the pale of anything you can imagine.”

Three years later, we still await the shattering of the universe.

Which apparently will occur at 4 p.m. Thursday.

Can’t make it to Arpaio’s “news” conference, you say? No worries.

Cue ABC15: “ABC 15 will live stream the event.”