Subject: U.S. Attorney's Office

• A FATAL CAE OF GOLD FEVER

  FRED SCHRADER WOULDN'T PULL THE TRIGGER IF HIS LIFE DEPENDED ON IT. UNFORTUNATELY IT DID.

  July 21, 1993

• LAWYERS, GUNS AND MONEY

  THE FEDS DESPERATELY WANTED THE CROATION IMMIRANT TO BE AN ILLEGAL GUNRUNNER. WHEN HE REFUSED, THEY BUSTED HIM ANYWAY.

  August 18, 1993

• FEDS PROBE SYMINGTON FIRMA GRAND JURY INVESTIGATES THE GOVERNOR'S DEVELOPMENT COMPANY AND ITS NUMEROUS FAILED REAL ESTATE DEALS

  September 29, 1993

• GOV'S FOREST MANAGEMENT MANTRA: TIMBER!FIFE'S PRICEY SUMMIT IS A ONE-SIDED AFFAIR

  November 3, 1993

• Countdown to Indictment?

  Washington to decide Fife's fate in next six weeks

  October 26, 1995

• A Three-Pronged Probe

  State's AHCCCS program under investigation by trio of federal agencies

  November 9, 1995

• 20/20 Out of Focus

  News report critical of Arizona's U.S. attorney omitted exculpatory facts

  May 23, 1996

• Flashes

  May 30, 1996

• Requiem for a Rogue

  Legal community pays its respects to flamboyant attorney Mike Scott

  March 13, 1997

• Bob Hartle's Identity Crisis

  A con man stole his good name and good credit; the law wouldn't help him get it back

  April 24, 1997

• Cowboys and Indians

  Scottsdale PD officers charge onto the reservation, spark grand jury investigation

  May 14, 1998

• Mom and Pop Go to Washington

  Local shopkeepers stung in Mini Thins case get help from national Arab-American leaders

  June 11, 1998

• Trainspotting

  Nearly three years after Amtrak's Sunset Limited was sabotaged near Buckeye, firefighters who rode to the rescue remain on the FBI's list of suspects

  July 16, 1998

• Flashes

  April 29, 1999

• Rivera's Edge

  After a year on the job, U.S. Attorney Jose de Jesus Rivera looks to be in the right place at the right time

  June 24, 1999

• Flashes 08-19-1999

  It's the Media Violence, Stupid

  August 19, 1999

• Flashes 08-03-2000

  Undoing Time, They're Baaaaaack, Double Your Pleasure, and Me and Julio

  August 3, 2000

• Snowflake Man to Serve 26 Months in Stabbing of Co-Worker in Iraq; Was Indicted Under Military Law

  Aaron Bridges Langston, 32, of Snowflake, will serve 26 months in a federal prison for stabbing his co-worker in the neck while working in Iraq. Langston, who worked for the Defense Department contractor Kellogg Brown and Root, was the supervisor for an Indian national woman he attacked on February 15, 2007 while at the Al Asad Airbase in Iraq. According to a news release by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona and news reports at the time, Langston nicked Gaddam Narayana's jugular vein, but s

  March 27, 2009

• Gambling Department Director Named by Governor Jan Brewer: Mark Brnovich, Legal Scholar

  Goldwater Institute Mark BrnovichLegal scholar, activist, prosecutor and private prison official Mark Brnovich has been appointed director of the Arizona Department of Gaming. Scammers pay heed: This over-achieving barrister is just coming off a stint in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona as a specialist in prosecuting gambling-related crimes. Followers of private-property-rights issues may recall seeing Brnovich's name crop up from time to time. He's a writer and researcher for

  March 31, 2009

• Phoenix Man Sentenced to 10 Years for Passing Secrets to Potential Terrorists

  A former sailor and Phoenix UPS driver was sentenced to 10 years in a federal prison today for passing secrets to a Pakistan man who ran an Al-Qaeda recruitment Web site.Paul R. Hall, who has apparently changed his name to Hassan Abu-Jihaad, was arrested in Phoenix in 2007 and charged with terrorism- and espionage-related crimes. Hall/Abu-Jihaad was convicted a year ago, but in early March a judge dropped the terrorism charge, delaying his sentencing.Hall was a bona fide rat in the grain house -

  April 3, 2009

• Checker Auto Scandal! Former CSK Chief Executives Charged With Major Financial Crimes

  Two former executives of the company that owns Checker Auto Parts -- both local men -- have been charged in a 31-count federal indictment with falsifying reports, lying to an auditor, and other schemes intended to manipulate the company's reported earnings.  Former CSK executives Martin G. Fraser, 53, of Glendale, and Don W. Watson, 53, of Gilbert, are being charged with "conspiracy, securities fraud, mail fraud, false filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), fal

  April 8, 2009

• Letters from the issue of Thursday, May 22, 2008

  May 22, 2008

• The New Boss

  Police have shut down most of the meth labs in Phoenix, but now the drug is a big import from Mexico -- cheap, pure and more plentiful than ever

  November 3, 2005

• Dangerous Mind

  August 26, 2004

• Collateral Damaged

  August 5, 2004

• Just Desserts

  April 29, 2004

• Up in Smoke

  Valley glass blowers and head shops fear prosecution, as Operation Pipe Dream shuts down a local manufacturer

  March 20, 2003

• Tribal Belt

  Margarite Faras tried to fix what she thought was wrong with the San Carlos Apache Reservation. Instead, San Carlos fixed her.

  December 14, 2000

• Soft Cell

  Special handling for a federal prosecutor's drunken-driving case sparks controversy in sheriff's ranks

  August 3, 2000

• Feds Will Retry Symington on Criminal Counts, Sources Say

  April 20, 2000

• America's Toughest Suspects

  Is Sheriff Joe's pink underwear in Bureau's drawer?

  December 3, 1998

• Viper Snitch Hits a Glitch

  November 13, 1997

• Flashes

  February 20, 1997

• Cinema Verite

  October 12, 1995

• Opiate for the Mrs.

  When laws are broken, somebody's got to be punished. In the case of Cindy McCain, that somebody is Tom Gosinski

  September 8, 1994

• SHE WAS ONLY FOLLOWING ORDERS

  February 2, 1994

• Republican Revenge

  July 29, 1992

• The White Man's Justice

  July 22, 1992

• Handgun Nets Illegal Immigrant Nearly Five Years in Prison

  .38 Superwww.gunsetc.com "Alien in possession of a firearm" sounds a tad like science-fiction poetry, but it's also the title of a federal statute - and one that's putting a Mexican national behind bars for about five years. While gun ownership is an Arizonan's birthright, (the state constitution goes well beyond the Second Amendment), illegal immigrants aren't supposed to be in on the fun. Of course, it's a no-brainer that plenty of illegal immigrants own firearms in this state for both protec

  April 29, 2009

• Internet Police: Feds and Arizona Law Enforcment Data to be Exchanged Online

  Image: U.S. Attorney's Office The computing capabilities of law enforcement upgraded today with the "completion" of AZLink, an Internet-based system of sharing federal and local data about criminals and illegal immigrants. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Phoenix says the program: ...allows connected partners to share investigative, booking, incarceration, weapon, drug, warrant, immigration status, and other law enforcement data in a secure cyber environment. It's a two-way street that also gives

  May 6, 2009

• Hamas-Tied Charity Group Helper Pleads Guilty to Lying to FBI

  A Mesa father and engineer has pleaded guilty to charges of lying to the FBI about his involvement in a charity organization tied to Hamas. Between 1994 and 1997, Akram Musa Abdallah, 54, raised funds for the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, which the federal government accuses of funneling money to the terrorist group that has political power in Palestinian Gaza. When the FBI came inquiring about the group in 2007, he denied helping the group even though he knew the United Stat

  May 6, 2009

• Bank Robberies on the Rise in Valley; Feds and Local Authorities Pledge to Work Cases Hard

  The number of bank robberies in the Valley have doubled compared to the first few months of 2008, prompting authorities to pledge to work harder on the cases. From January to May 1 in 2008, robbers held up 44 Valley banks. In the same four months in 2009, they hit 88. There were 179 bank robberies in the Phoenix metro area last year, a notable increase from 2007. But if the current pace continues, authorities say, this year might achieve a total of 271. To help tackle the problem, th

  May 7, 2009

• "Bad Hair" Bandit Busted in Scottsdale; Reserve Deputy Thought "Big Afro Wig" was Strange

    Jim Jeselun, a reserve deputy for the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, thought something was odd about a man he saw walking into a Scottsdale bank on Monday. For one thing, he was wearing a "big Afro wig." When the man came out of the First Fidelity Bank at 7401 E. Camelback Road, Jeselun -- a retired sheriff's deputy -- jotted down the Volkswagen Jetta's license plate. He quickly learned the bank had just been robbed. And it wasn't long after Jeselun turned his info over

  May 12, 2009

• Human Growth Hormone Sales Sprout Indictments for Phoenix Pharmacy and Workers

  A Phoenix pharmacy and its owner have been indicted for selling up to $8 million in human-growth hormone to doctors without receiving prescriptions. An announcement from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Phoenix also says the Compounding Center, 4045 East Bell Road, and wholesale division manager Sean Shaffer advertised anti-aging products based on the "impermissable use" of HGH. The main allegation centers on sales from 2001 to 2006 of $1.2 million to $8.2 million of the hormone, officials sa

  June 18, 2009

• Scottsdale Man Pleads Guilty to Bringing in Chinese Viagra-Type Drug and Fraud Charges

  What a scammer! Timothy Keay Isaac, 47, pleaded guilty today in federal court to a slew of charges related to his illicit company, which brought into the country a Chinese Viagra-like drug without prescriptions. But this is the part that bugs us: In 2006, Isaac applied for disability benefits from the Social Security Administration and received $35,000. Yet that very same year, the con-man took out a mortgage on a $2.9 million house. Our question: Where was the Social Security Administration -

  June 26, 2009

• BASE Jump in Grand Canyon Costs Daredevil $5,000; Conviction Includes Year of Probation

  Image: www.chrismcnamara.com BASE jumper Chris McNamara must pay a $5,000 fine for leaping from a cliff in the Grand Canyon National Park. The winged daredevil and climber from Marin County, California did his wicked deed on November 5, 2007, during a badass Canyon adventure with climbing superstars Tommy Caldwell and Beth Rodden. (Rodden and Caldwell, you may recall, escaped from being kidnapped in Kyrgyzstan in 2000). You may remember them from A write-up of the event, which was filmed by pho

  July 15, 2009

• ICE Agent and Customs Officer Charged With Fraud in Alleged Government Credit Card Scam

  An agent with the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and a Customs officer were arrested this morning after being indicted on suspicion of stealing government money. Agent Michael J. Kittson, 34, and U.S. Customs Patrol Officer Douglas R. Bothof are named in a 47-count indictment that accuses them of buying more than $55,000 worth of personal goods with Border Patrol credit cards. The agent and officer conspired with a former Customs officer and two employees of a Tucson-area au

  July 17, 2009

• Convicted Killer Charged in 1973 Murder of FBI Agent's Daughter; 22-year-Old's Body Found at Fort Huachuca

  Image: Wisconsin Department of Corrections​ A convicted killer serving a life sentence in Wisconsin for a 1978 double-murder has been charged in the 1973 murder of 22-year-old Leesa Jo Shaner. According to an article last year in the Wisconsin's Journal-Sentinel, Shaner was on her way to pick up her husband at the Tucson Airport when she was kidnapped. Her two kids were at home with her father; they were planning a welcome-home party for Shaner's husband, Gary, who was returning home fro

  August 28, 2009

• Dennis Burke Confirmed as U.S. Attorney in Arizona

  ​ Dennis Burke, one of former Governor Janet Napolitano's chiefs-of-staff, has been confirmed as the next U.S. Attorney in Arizona. Burke's ultra-qualified for the job. He's a graduate of Georgetown University and University of Arizona, worked as counsel under former Arizona Senator Dennis DeConcini, is a former chief deputy to the state attorney general and a senior advisor to Napolitano, the new U.S. Homeland Security Secretary. He can also whip up a loaf of banana bread, if needed. F

  September 15, 2009

• Saguaro Cactus Rustler Sentenced to Eight Months in Prison Should Have Called APS

  A bulldozer shreds a saguaro in this image from a YouTube video.​ Two Tucson men were sentenced recently for stealing Saguaro cacti from inside Saguaro National Park, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced today. Joseph Tillman, 50, will serve eight months in federal prison. His buddy, Gregory James McKee, 42, was sentenced to six months of home confinement and 100 hours of community service. A park ranger caught the men back in January of 2007 after they had dug up several of

  November 20, 2009