Sheriff Arpaio’s double-dipping, now-fired chief deputy, Dave Hendershott, lost his last home in foreclosure proceedings and has been on administrative leave for months while under investigation. This hasn’t stopped him from living in the lap of luxury, judging by his current residence. In 2008, a real estate firm specializing in high-end habitations showed…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio fired two of his most trusted aides today, Chief Deputy Dave Hendershott and Deputy Chief Larry Black, both of whom have been accused of crimes and misconduct. Arpaio told the Arizona Republic in 2009 that no one could make him drive Hendershott from office, but the 1,022-page investigative report into…
A Bullhead City woman who worked as an undercover informant claims in a federal lawsuit that she was sexually abused repeatedly by a Fort Mohave Tribal Police detective. Erika Solem alleges in her 46-page federal complaint that after she was caught with 14 grams of crystal meth during a traffic stop…
Leroy Smalley was down on his luck in 2003. He’d just been convicted in a child-molestation case, and his release required him to register as a sex offender and check in with a probation officer regularly for the rest of his life. When his wife divorced him while he was…
Most people approved to use marijuana legally in Arizona complain of chronic pain related to back problems, severe headaches, injuries or arthritis, new stats show. The Department of Health Services is keeping close track of nearly every facet of the program, and will also soon release the number of recommendations…
We don’t know whether Sheriff Joe Arpaio read last week’s New Times article about his lovey-dovey top commanders — but we know he saw it. Demonstrators laid out a couple of dozen copies of the issue during a protest of a Tea Party rally at the State Capitol last week,…
The Statute of Liberty inspires people to think about freedom. That sure seems to be the case with 42-year-old Kevin Theriault, who felt free enough to whip out his johnson in front of a woman who was dressed as Lady Liberty, all while standing in a Tempe parking lot, say Tempe police. Police say Theriault had masturbated in…
Arizona’s official state gun is the Colt .45, but a trendy alcoholic drink that shares the name shouldn’t be on shelves in its current form, says state Attorney General Tom Horne. Horne and 17 other state attorneys general sent a letter to Pabst Brewing Company in Illinois today, asking the famous beermaker…
Goldwater Institute representatives are scheduled to meet with Glendale city leaders today at 3 p.m. to hear arguments on why they shouldn’t sue the city over a planned $100 million subsidy for the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team. The right-leaning institute says it will release partial transcripts of the closed…
A Scottsdale charter school teacher was arrested on Tuesday and accused of bashing the face of his boyfriend’s 6-year-old daughter because she woke him up from a nap. Chandler police arrested Qikai “Ben” Chen, 27, at Basis Charter School, where he works as a math teacher. Records show that Chen admitted…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio faced 5 1/2 hours of questioning in January as part of an investigation into a memo written by one of his top deputies that alleged corruption by his command staff. The Arizona Republic dug up billing records that provide evidence of what had long been speculated: That the so-called…
A federal judge has slapped down Pastor Michael Salman’s request for a restraining order against the city of Phoenix in Salman’s fight over his backyard church services. Salman’s been battling city officials and neighbors for the last few years in his quest to continue the services, which — he says…
While reporting our feature article on gold last year, we heard from experts who thought the price of gold would keep going up. Shoulda bought a truckload. Or even a gram. The price of gold has hit $1,500 an ounce for the first time ever. The stuff was about $1,260 in July, when New Times…
No, Paul Verrell of Tucson doesn’t want to put away his @$#%@$#% iPod. Verrell, 20, was arrested today at Bradley International Airport in Hartford, Connecticut, after swearing at a Southwest Airlines flight crew and airport workers. The curse words began flowing after he was told to put away his electronic…
We’ve given it the old college try, but State Representative Jim Weiers (R-Phoenix) apparently doesn’t want to talk about his reported role in the SCA criminal investigation. As our article on the campaign-finance scandal this week and previous blog posts mention, Weiers’ name came up in the 802-page report…
A well-publicized medical marijuana expo at University of Phoenix Stadium over the weekend attracted fewer people than some disappointed vendors expected. Others, however, called the Green Relief Convention and Expo, which took place Thursday, Friday and Saturday, a success. A few thousand people showed up to check out the dozens of vendor booths…
A Phoenix pastor’s fight to hold church services in his backyard has moved to federal court.Michael Salman has battled his neighbors and the city of Phoenix for years, arguing he has the constitutional right to have about 50 friends each week to worship God in the backyard of his home, near…
A Pew Research Center poll claims that Mexicans look less favorably on Americans since the passage of SB 1070, a stat used today by the Christian Science Monitor to thread an article on immigration.Just one problem: It took us about a minute to find another poll that shows Mexican attitudes…
Figured you might get a chuckle out of this video of “the Machine” taking a stroll among baseball fans last month at Scottsdale Municipal Stadium. Or, at least, it’s someone who dresses like the Machine, a bizarro-scary character from the movie 8mm. We’ve no idea if the masked man behind…
They say that the cover-up can often be worse than the crime, and this appears true in the case of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and the SCA scandal. In yet another sign that someone working for Sheriff Joe Arpaio, or maybe the big guy himself, wants to erase fingerprints…
This is the story of how love aided and abetted a criminal conspiracy. Larry Black and Joel Fox both are high-ranking lawmen with more than 20 years at the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. Along with Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s number two, Chief Deputy David Hendershott, Deputy Chief Black is a part…
Larry Black, one of Sheriff Arpaio’s most trusted aides, is one of three people who almost certainly will be be fired based on the Munnell Memo findings, Channel 5 (KPHO-TV) reported today. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio doesn’t want the public to read an investigative report into the alleged crimes…
