Arizona paid $16,000 for firm that provided Stringer report

The Arizona House of Representatives paid nearly $16,000 to a private investigation firm that tracked down a 1983 police report showing former Rep. David Stringer was accused of paying boys for sex.

Stringer resigned last month when confronted with the allegation, which he’d fought to keep secret.

An invoice released Wednesday shows the House paid Phoenix law firm Ballard Spahr just over $218,000 to investigate ethics complaints against Stringer.

The firm obtained the report from a contractor working for private investigation firm TorchStone Global. Baltimore police had declined to release the document to reporters.

The House also paid private investigator J. Swain Granieri $35,000 for work that included interviews with people who accused Stringer of making racist or otherwise inappropriate comments.

Stringer has denied wrongdoing.