Teen rape suspect often e-mailed Sheriff's Office

Records suggest that a Pinal County teenager accused in court of being a serial rapist sought to forge a relationship with county law enforcement months before deputies investigated him, although sheriff's officials said the youth had never been on their radar.

Tyler Kost, 18, appeared Monday in Pinal County Superior Court, where he faces 30 counts of sexual assault and other crimes. Kost was arrested in May and is accused of sex crimes involving 13 girls, ages 13 to 17. The crimes began five years ago, authorities say.

Kost has pleaded not guilty on all counts; his defense attorneys have declined comment. No further charges are expected, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday.

Although the Sheriff's Office and administrators at Kost's high school said the teenager had gone unnoticed, new information suggests that, before the investigation, Kost repeatedly contacted some top Sheriff's Office staff. One top official replied to Kost, records suggest.

A string of 23 e-mails sent before the criminal investigation began detail the scope of Kost's efforts in the summer and fall of 2013. They were released to The Arizona Republic in response to a public-records request.

The e-mails show Kost inquiring about becoming a volunteer Explorer, seeking to participate in ride-alongs, organizing a fundraiser for law-enforcement agencies and trying to meet with Sheriff Paul Babeu. Tim Gaffney, the department's administration director, said only a November ride-along actually occurred.

Several of Kost's requests were passed up the chain of command, records suggest.

Kost gave his friend, 18-year-old Kenny Reitz, the impression he was acquainted with Babeu. Reitz had, he said, been close with the family for years.

Reitz played baseball in Poston Butte High School's program with Kost and two of Babeu's nephews, and said all four of the boys were acquainted. He recalled the sheriff throwing the first pitch at one of Kost's varsity baseball games.

"I remember him saying he actually knew him and talked to him," Reitz said. "Before the game, he told me about that. So I guess he actually knew Sheriff Paul Babeu before this all happened, or so he said."

The Sheriff's Office said otherwise.

"The sheriff has never met Mr. Kost or knew anything about him until he was briefed on the criminal case," said Gaffney, adding that the teenager "never met with or communicated with" top officials.

Babeu, in a prepared statement, said: "It appears Tyler Kost attempted to get closer to law enforcement thinking it may insulate himself from future allegations, or in an effort to further his false claims that he was affiliated with law enforcement."

On July 16, 2013, Kost asked officials at the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office about joining its volunteer Explorer program. He was told no openings existed and was advised to contact PCSO Sgt. Matt McKenzie, who ran the program at Poston Butte High School, which Kost attended.

"I don't know Tyler Kost," McKenzie said in an interview earlier this year. "He wasn't an Explorer on my watch. "I never heard his name until the day he was arrested."

On Aug. 8, Kost notified Paula Pollock, Babeu's community outreach director, about his planned fundraiser. Pollock wrote back, promising to tell the sheriff. Kost e-mailed Pollock a second time to tell her that he had returned her call back with no answer and that he'd lined up other agencies, including the Phoenix Police Department.

The same day, Kost sent an e-mail to Babeu at his political action committee.

"I need to set up a meeting with Paul Babeu regarding a fundraiser for first responders at Poston Butte High School," Kost wrote, urging the sheriff "get back to me as soon as possible."

The e-mail went to Marty Hermanson, who was Babeu's campaign manager in 2012 and one-time chairman of the Pinal County Republican Party. Days later, Hermanson forwarded the request to Gaffney.

Gaffney responded from his official e-mail to say, "Paula... said that she already received this request and has been in contact with (Kost)." Hermanson did not return a call on his cellphone seeking comment.

On Aug. 20, 2013, Kost penned a letter he addressed to "Departments of Arizona" about the fundraiser and fun run he said he'd scheduled for November.

"I highly encourage all departments to participate. The money is 100 percent going back to you guys! The event itself is for you guys!" Kost wrote, signing the letter as the First Responder Committee Chair at Poston Butte. There's no evidence such a group exists, and Gaffney said the fundraising event never took place.

On Nov. 13, 2013, he requested a ride along with a specific deputy, asking for a graveyard shift on the night before his fundraising event was supposed to have occurred.

"I want to ride along because I am pursuing a career in law enforcement after my time in service with the Army," Kost wrote in a handwritten request, explaining he'd gone on ride-alongs in Utah and with highway patrol in Arizona. He added, "I am looking to see how another department operates."

Gaffney said the ride-along occurred two days later.

Within four months, deputies were investigating Kost. He was arrested in May, and questions surfaced about how his alleged activities could have gone unnoticed for so long.

Investigators said Kost was a manipulator who bullied and threatened girls into silence. Court records allege that he threatened to kill one if she came forward and texted another that she should kill herself. But Babeu said that Kost had another side: charming and charismatic.

"Law enforcement should have known that this predator was out there," Babeu told conservative radio talk-show host Laura Ingraham on May 14. He was criticizing a Planned Parenthood clinic for an unproven allegation that the clinic had failed to report the rape of a girl whom investigators believe Kost had impregnated.

To his friends, there was no master manipulator —just a kid who wanted to go into law enforcement.

"He would talk about ride-alongs a lot," Reitz said. "He went with Pinal County sheriff's. He talked about pulling people over, how much fun he had, anything funny that happened."

Reitz said his friend admired Babeu.

"Yeah, he looked up to him for sure," Reitz said. "He wanted to be him, basically. He wanted to be a sheriff."

Channel 12 reporter Joe Dana contributed to this report.