As expected, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors told County Attorney Andrew Thomas that he can stuff that request for a special meeting to talk about special prosecutors. Thomas “misinterpreted” today’s ruling by Pima County Judge John Leonardo’s ruling and is therefore applying it inappropriately, states Wade Swanson, the county’s general litigation services director, in a…
Maricopa County Andrew Thomas, following up today on a damning court ruling against him, moved to dismiss both the criminal complaint against Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe and the second indictment of County Supervisor Don Stapley. Thomas isn’t throwing in the towel, though. He’s launching an appeal of today’s…
A judge has tossed Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas off his criminal case against County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, more than agreeing with arguments presented by Wilcox’s attorney. Pima County Judge John Leonardo also dismissed the indictment against Wilcox, leaving the possibility open for a special prosecutor to bring charges in the future…
Tiger Woods is back in Arizona, but not for the Waste Management Phoenix Open. The blogosphere is buzzing with news that Woods’ private plane landed in Mesa, (or maybe Scottsdale), and that the golfing great and his wife may be headed to an addiction treatment facility in Wickenburg…
According to Phoenix police, these guys really suck. Using a van equipped with removable floorboards and a 450-gallon tank, the suspects cruised around town and siphoned up rivers of gasoline from underground fuel tanks. We have to give them an A for effort. For the plan’s execution, though, the crime-class…
The Twitter direct message from Kirk Adams, Arizona House Speaker, looked suspicious at first glance: It turns out that someone may have hijacked the Speaker’s Twitter account temporarily and used it to spread a phishing scam that began blazing across the Internet this weekend. Clicking on the accompanying link takes computer…
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is concerned that an ABC-15 (KNXV-TV) new director’s e-mail means the station might not be “fair and impartial” in his coverage of Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The e-mail, which we obtained and published last week, had been sent to Maricopa County government by ABC-15 reporter Josh Bernstein…
The fastest drivers caught by freeway speed cameras in Arizona will be punished less, thanks to a policy change that halts the mailing of criminal speeding tickets. The state Department of Public Safety, which operates the highway speed-camera program, says the change — made without fanfare earlier this month — won’t likely…
Most cops never shoot anyone, and even fewer will kill more than one crime suspect in their careers. Scottsdale Officer James Peters is different: He’s killed five four people in his 10-year career. On Wednesday, he was among several officers who shot and critically wounded another crime suspect. As a Channel 5…
Yikes. We’re working overtime today to make sure the boss doesn’t send us a memo like the one Josh Bernstein over at ABC-15 recently received. To paraphrase: Stop smooching Sheriff Arpaio’s rear-end and start kicking it. As New Times writer Sarah Fenske pointed out in today’s cover story, Bernstein basically chugged the…
Geo Trackers are too damned small.A Tracker Vs. pickup collision figured into an article published in New Times last September, with the Tracker occupants coming out much worse.Now, in a similar — but even more tragic — vehicular mismatch, a suspected drunk driver in a 1980 full-size Chevy pickup crossed…
A Phoenix mom was arrested last week on suspicion of sending her daughter and other teens over to an ex-boyfriend’s Tempe house in September to rough the guy up with Tasers and other weapons.Police believe that Katherine Faye White, a 40-year-old woman with a history of forgery and theft convictions,…
Where’s Ed Ableser’s head at? As the state marches toward bankruptcy, the Democratic lawmaker from Tempe has focused some of his attention on an event that happened before he was born: He wants the naughty United States to take responsibility for its role in the 1973 coup in Chile that brought a vicious…
Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk said in court today that she was “shocked” last September by the arrest of Maricopa County Supervisor Don Stapley. She had personally told Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his chief deputy, Dave Hendershott, the Friday before the Monday arrest that the second criminal case against…
It’s one thing to “just walk away” from that upside-down mortgage and let your home sink into foreclosure. Some folks, though, like to hitch up a flatbed trailer and drive away with every toilet seat, cabinet, and AC unit. Chandler police say that’s what Daniel Clark, 35, tried to do with his former…
A judge on Wednesday cleared the way for a court hearing next week that will have county attorneys Andrew Thomas and Sheila Polk answering questions by Mary Rose Wilcox’s lawyer. Thomas’ office had tried to quash the compelled testimony, but Pima County Judge John Leonardo wouldn’t hear of it. “The…
The founder and former owner of a popular hooker-finding Web site pleaded guilty on Tuesday to trying to hire a hit man to kill a prostitute who’s suing him. David Elms founded TheEroticReview.com in 1999 and eventually became one of the most influential men in the call-girl biz. His…
If Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas runs for state Attorney General, as he plans to, he’ll have to resign from his post sometime this year. But if he resigns, the Board of Supervisors — his political enemies — would get to choose a successor. Thomas doesn’t want them to make that…
Robert Troutt’s future as a poster boy for the evils of meth addiction now seems assured. As we reported last month, Phoenix police accuse Troutt (pictured) of beating his 85-year-old mother, Eva Fitzgerald, while he was in a drug-induced haze. Troutt, 55, admitted to police that he recalled standing over his…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio will leave the Wells Fargo building in downtown Phoenix if doing so will save taxpayers’ money, according to a statement released today. The Board of Supervisors, though, which Arpaio has accused of engaging in a criminal conspiracy against him, may have the final word on whether…
An hour of work this morning produced only scant information about the talks to move Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s headquarters out of the Wells Fargo building in downtown Phoenix.Cari Gerchick, spokeswoman for Maricopa County, tells us that Wells Fargo is not exactly evicting the Sheriff’s Office from the 18th and 19th…
Wells Fargo informed Maricopa County in a recent letter that it wants the Sheriff’s Office to vacate the office space it has inhabited in the bank’s downtown Phoenix building since 1998.One of our trusted sources read us the letter this evening — we don’t have it yet, but we’ll post it here…
