Police say a man broke into a Mesa apartment Thursday morning, only to have his burglary plan hampered by getting caught in a clothes hamper. Mesa police Detective Mike Melendez tells New Times that a 45-year-old man was in the bathroom of his apartment, on the 300 block of North…
For the first time in about seven weeks, doctors treating Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords held a news conference to update the public on the congresswoman’s condition after she was shot through the brain during the January 8 shooting rampage in Tucson.Things are looking good for Giffords.According to her doctors, Giffords is…
It’s only been about two months since Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot “through the brain” during the January 8, shooting rampage in Tucson, but her staff confirms today that she plans to attend her astronaut husband, Mark Kelly’s, April shuttle launch.Kelly is pegged to serve as the mission commander aboard…
Photo by Matthew Hendley In a DUI even Governor Jan Brewer probably couldn’t get away with, police say an allegedly drunk 56-year-old man crashed his truck straight into Phoenix police headquarters early Thursday. Phoenix police Sergeant Tommy Thompson tells New Times the man was driving his 2003 half-ton Chevrolet truck…
Phoenix resident Mike Aley is the proud owner of a 4-year-old Staffordshire Terrier named Lexy, who happens to be one of the worst guard dogs in the world.On February 24, Aley’s house near 64th and Voltaire streets was burglarized. The thieves, Aley tells New Times, stole a watch, a laptop…and…
The man fatally shot by Phoenix police officers early yesterday morning has been identified as 26-year-old Ernesto Lopez. And Lopez, it appears, left two women in charge of the getaway car as he attempted (and failed morbidly) to rob a 7-11 convenience store.Those women, Lopez’s girlfriend, 26-year-old Jennathea Nozie, and…
Give it up, bub…After sitting on death row for more than two decades, Daniel Wayne Cook is still fighting to avoid his date with the executioner’s needle, which happens to be less than a month away.Cook’s attorneys filed a petition to review his death sentence, claiming he suffers from post-traumatic…
If there’s one thing 37-year-old alleged meth head Gerald Alfred Seyfried won’t do, it’s go quietly.Seyfried got popped over the weekend after setting a fire on a sidewalk for no apparent reason. Rather than explain the situation to the arresting officers, he started a fight with them — that only…
The Scottsdale man whose erratic driving is alleged to be responsible for the death of an 11-year-old girl, and who ranted and raved about Jesus and Satan following the wreck, was in Maricopa County Superior Court this morning, where he pleaded not guilty to manslaughter.At his initial court appearance, 46-year-old…
A Phoenix robbery suspect is dead after shooting it out with police after holding up a 7-11.According to the Phoenix Police Department, officers responded to a robbery in progress at the convenience store near 48th Street and McDowell Road about 2 a.m.When officers arrived on the scene, the suspect ran…
David Nelson, the former Jehovah’s Witness elder arrested last year for playing strip poker (among other things) with a 14-year-old boy, pleaded guilty this morning to two counts of sexual conduct with a minor stemming from incidents dating back to 1980.Nelson, the former leader of the Madison Park Congregation Church…
A detective from the Phoenix Police Department was arrested yesterday for allegedly stealing drugs from the department’s evidence room.The unidentified detective is a 12-year veteran of the force.According to police, the detective would steal Oxycontin that was scheduled to be destroyed. As if nobody would notice, the detective would replace…
A Phoenix man who drunkenly crashed into a Department of Public Safety patrol car while driving the wrong way on the westbound Loop 101 last year was in a Maricopa County Superior Court this morning, where he was sentenced to five years in prison.Michael Chicharello, 31, pleaded guilty to aggravated…
The man pictured is 44-year-old Ronald Slavin, and he sucks at crime.On Friday, Slavin was arrested for trying to burglarize a car and assaulting the officers who arrested him. He was treated at Arizona Regional Hospital for injuries suffered during his arrest, but he checked himself out. That’s when he headed to…
A Pinal County Superior Court judge this morning slapped the wrist of a Tucson woman convicted of peddling nearly $10,000 worth of crystal meth — she was sentenced to a mere 18 months probation.Perhaps stupidity creativity points were awarded to 27-year-old Vanessa Concepcion Gaxiola when Judge Howard Fell considered her…
The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced this morning that a 49-count federal indictment has been returned charging Jared Loughner, the lone suspect in the January 8, Tucson shooting rampage, with various crimes, including murder.In a twist, the new indictment names all victims of the shooting, not just federal employees. Before today, Loughner,…
You’d think that if you were an elected official whose life was turned upside down after finding out your wife had a three-year sexual relationship with a teenage boy, the only food you’d bring her in jail would be seasoned with cyanide. Not Maricopa County Supervisor Fulton Brock, who was reportedly…
It’s on.After nearly 24 years on death row, convicted murderer Daniel Wayne Cook finally has been assigned a date with death.The Arizona Department of Corrections announced today that Cook will be executed on April 5, at 10 a.m.Cook was convicted of the 1987 murders of two men in Lake Havasu City, during…
After a young girl told her teacher Tuesday that her step-grandfather had been molesting her for the past two years, police discovered the old man has allegedly molested several branches on the family tree. Rafael Montenegro Calderon, a 51-year-old Phoenix resident, was arrested Tuesday evening after family members over two…
If a day that includes getting charged with the murder of one of your buddies after he was shot by police during a botched home invasion, getting attacked by a police dog, and getting shot by cops, isn’t the absolute worst day of your life, we’d love to know what…
PCP and hallucinogenic mushrooms seem to be to blame for the rescue of Eugene Gimzelberg, whose “trip” took him to the depths of the Gilbert sewer system in search of his kids. The children, of course, weren’t actually in the sewer — where he got stuck for 36 hours. Last…
The judge handling the case of Tucson shooting suspect Jared Loughner denied requests from both prosecutors and Loughner’s defense attorney to block the release of autopsy reports of the victims of the shooting to the public.Prosecutors filed a motion voicing concern that media coverage could taint the jury pool, and…
