Maricopa County Attorney’s Office spokesman Jerry Cobb tells New Times that the Mesa 16-year-old accused of murdering his girlfriend’s mother will be charged as an adult.The boy, identified as Braden Matthew Rockriver, will be charged with first-degree murder, a class 1 dangerous felony; and first-degree burglary, a class two dangerous…
Republic Monetary Exchange, a prominent Phoenix gold-selling firm, has been sued by an investor whose role in the firm had originally been kept hidden. The investor, Sherman Unkefer, happens to be an old buddy of Republic Monetary’s ex-con CEO, Jim Clark. The two previously were leaders of North American Coin…
I’ve not known the local Libertarian crowd to be overly fond of state Senate President Russell Pearce, which makes me wonder why one of their tribe appears to be jumping into the recall campaign in Legislative District 18. A move that will inevitably dilute the vote.The guy’s name is Michael…
A drunk Mesa woman was arrested yesterday after assaulting both her mother-in-law and father-in-law — but that’s not the gross part; as police tried to subdue her, she spit blood at the arresting officers, landing some in one officer’s mouth.According to Mesa police, about 6 p.m. yesterday, officers responded to…
A 16-year-old Mesa boy who admitted to fatally shooting his girlfriend’s 42-year-old mother yesterday afternoon told police that he stole the gun used in the attack from his father. He also told investigators that the girl’s mother wasn’t his intended target — he says he planned to kill his girlfriend…
If you thought you’d heard the last of 33-year-old Eugene Gimzelberg, the Gilbert man who spent 36 hours in a sewer while naked and tripping on hallucinogenic mushrooms and PCP, guess again — in addition to his sewer shenanigans, Gimzelberg’s apparently a fairly well-known (by police) graffiti artist.Gilbert Sergeant Bill…
The Phoenix Police Department needs the public’s help in tracking down a missing old guy. Chamel Cabrera, 73, could be in a bit of trouble — he’s visiting from Mexico and is unfamiliar with the area. He also has Alzheimer’s Disease and high blood pressure and needs daily medication. He…
State Senator Scott Bundgaard pleaded no contest this morning to a misdemeanor endangerment charge stemming from a February scuffle on the side of a Valley freeway with his now ex-girlfriend Aubry BallardInitially, Bundgaard was charged with one count each of reckless assault and endangerment for the freeway fracas that resulted…
If you’re missing a marijuana-growing business, maybe it’s the one Glendale police found last month.Dozens of pot plants were discovered sprouting in a commercial business space near 57th Avenue and San Miguel Street on July 28, but the owners still haven’t been found, says Glendale police spokesman Sergeant Brent Coombs.”At…
Mesa police say a teen walked into the open garage at the home of his ex-girlfriend, went into the laundry room, and fatally shot the girl’s mother yesterday afternoon.The woman’s husband was home at the time of the shooting, which happened in a neighborhood near Baseline and Sossaman Roads about…
Phoenix police are looking for two thugs who forced a 70-year-old Phoenix woman into her apartment where one of the men sexually assaulted her early yesterday morning.According to the Phoenix Police Department, the woman was walking back to her apartment about 12:45 a.m. when she was approached by the two…
Child Protective Services is catching some heat following the murder of a 6-year-old Phoenix boy.Police say Jacob Gibson was beaten with a wire hanger and a belt buckle by his parents, Benny Gibson, 49, and Jennifer Edna Paul, 37. Jacob died Sunday — about a week after the beating.Turns out, Jacob’s…
At Phoenix’s mayoral debate, candidates offered up many of the same talking points you can find on their websites. A snapshot:Mayoral candidate Wes Gullett swipes at fellow candidate Councilman Claude Mattox, chairman of city’s Public Safety Committee, because Phoenix still hasn’t hired a police chief — four months after Phoenix Police Chief Jack…
In the 24-hour news cycle, it can be difficult to keep up. We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times’ blogs. Today’s entries:…
Just before candidates introduced themselves, a couple of dozen individuals wearing Jennifer Wright T-shirts walked out of Phoenix Chamber of Commerce-sponsored mayoral debate at Phoenix Symphony Hall.Mayoral candidates Wright and Anna Brennan were not allowed to participate in the debate because they didn’t meet all the criteria set by the sponsors, including raising…
Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke can’t find any chargeable offenses after a review of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office’s questionable travel habits and mismanagement of an inmate trust fund.Because the U.S. Attorney is still investigating Arpaio in connection with abuse-of-power allegations, and the sheriff’s office still faces a civil-rights probe,…
An act of criminal chivalry on Saturday resulted in a deputy getting accidentally tased and in a riverboat chase that sounds more like a human safari.The mayhem began at about 3:40 p.m. near the mud cliffs on the lower Salt River, when Maricopa County Sheriff’s Deputy C. Bradshaw attempted to…
A suspected drunk driver speeding north on the Loop 101 slammed his Hyundai into the back of an SUV early Saturday morning, killing the three people inside.Authorities still aren’t sure whether the victims in the SUV died from the impact or resulting explosion and fire Their bodies were severely burned, says…
DeeDee Blase, founder of Somos Republicans and the driving force behind the Tequila Party, takes political flak from both the right and the left. Democrats suspect her, and extremist Republicans loathe her for her calling out the GOP on the immigration issue.Whatever you may think of her, she’s essentially a…
In an apparent parking-lot-rage incident, a taxi driver and his passenger are accused by police of beating a man to death as the victim’s horrified wife watched.The act of impulsive violence erupted about 5:15 p.m. on Saturday at 1459 North Dysart Road, as the AAA Taxi pulled out of a…
At this point, I’m really beginning to wonder if state Senate President Russell Pearce is a sadomasochist. The sadist part is easy to see. But the masochism becomes more evident with each new legal maneuver by Lisa Hauser, the attorney working on behalf of Pearce and Pearce’s pal Franklin Bruce Ross,…
A beer-theft suspect whose attempted escape from police last year resulted in a crash that killed a pharmacy student will spend at least 25 years in prison.Berry Williams, 49, stole several 30-packs of beer from a west-side Circle K back on February 1, 2010, then sped from police who tried…
