PHOENIX -- Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio denied reports that an informant about a death plot against him had been discredited and said the investigation into the threat remained open.

Arpaio spoke on the "Jay Lawrence Show" on FM NewsTalk 92-3 about the informant's claims that the Minutemen were going to pay $3 million to have the sheriff killed by a Mexican drug cartel to inflame the already-hot illegal immigration issue. While almost all of the information provided by the informant turned out to be bogus, Arpaio said the informant knew some details about his life.

"How would he know that it took six minutes for me to go from my office to my car?" Arpaio asked. "How would he know a Mexican restaurant that I frequent here in Phoenix? There are a lot of unanswered questions here."

Arpaio disagreed with a report by "The Arizona Republic" that the informant has been discredited.

"The informant was never discredited. He passed polygraphs. When you pass the lie box, you have to give a little credence to what he observed and what he's reporting. So how can he be discredited?" Arpaio asked.

The informant named immigrants rights advocate Elias Bermudez as the intermediary in the alleged plot. Bermudez told Lawrence he does not know how his name came up.

"They just used by name because it is familiar and probably there was an intent on someone's part to do that because we create enemies everywhere, and Sheriff Joe, as I, have created enemies," Bermudez said.

He said he understands Arpaio's predicament and why the sheriff's office had spent $500,000 on security since the plot was reported.

"I wish I had the money to spend myself because I do get death threats on a regular basis," Bermudez said. "We need to be very careful, and we need to protect ourselves and those who are in authority."