The arrest of men on suspicion of sexual misconduct with their own family members makes for a journalistic conundrum: Name the suspect, and you’ve all but identified the victim.Local media was presented with this challenge yesterday — twice. Court records show that two men — Jose Alfredo Rivera of Glendale…
Jose Alfredo Rivera of Glendale and Bruce Allan Branscom of Mesa likely don’t know each other, but they’ve got something in common:Both were arrested on New Year’s Day for allegedly molesting 12-year-old girls.The situations are separate, but also shockingly similar. The suspects knew the victims in both cases.Branscom’s a 28-year-old…
It’s been more than a year since Senator John McCain mopped the floor with former congressman/phoney conservative/free government-money huckster J.D. Hayworth in Arizona’s GOP Senate primary, and the former congressman’s finally gotten around to getting himself a full-time job.A right-wing San Francisco radio station announced yesterday that it’s hired Hayworth…
A former Arizona Department of Corrections officer accused of killing his wife earlier this month pleaded not guilty to murder in a Maricopa County Superior Court this morning. “She is definitely dead — I put two to the chest and one to the head.”That’s what the officer, Anthony Rinaldi –…
Brian Bizzell, a band teacher with the Buckeye Unified School District, was in Maricopa County Superior Court this morning where he pleaded not guilty to charges that he had a sexual relationship with one of his underage students — prior to his arrest, Bizzell tried to arrange a “quickie” with…
Don Wilson, Andrew Thomas’ attorney in the former Maricopa County Attorney’s disciplinary proceedings, disses Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s memory and his client’s political future in a new interview.We found Wilson’s Tuesday interview with KJZZ quite comical, in places, (after learning about it from one of our sharp readers, that is). Thomas’…
A recovering heroin addict took his cat to the Arizona Humane Society for treatment earlier this month after the cat was injured while crawling through some razor wire. That turned out to be a mistake — because Daniel Dockery was unable to immediately pay for the cat’s treatment, the AHS…
A Tempe man was arrested at the Arizona Grand Resort in south Phoenix on Monday afternoon in connection with an attempted rape of an employee in a restroom. Before the attack, the victim told police she saw Michael Robert Martinez, 30, hanging out near the door to the restroom, which was located…
Since July, Phoenix police have received at least 33 reports that Gregg Pfeifer, 35, has been stalking a former girlfriend. He’s allegedly made multiple harassing phone calls, drives by the victim’s house repeatedly, and has sent several threatening emails.Early yesterday morning, police say, Pfeifer set the victim’s car on fire…again.According…
A Phoenix mom choked her 5-year-old son for playing video games and threatened him and her teenage daughter with a butcher knife on Christmas Day, police say.Jutrina Tillman, 32, who was arrested after police showed up and interviewed the terrified children, is already under investigation by Child Protective Services on…
An African-American man in Gilbert found on Saturday morning that someone had given him the Christmas Eve gift of a charred wooden cross on his lawn.On his porch was a threatening letter attached to a rock.The 43-year-old victim, who hasn’t been named by Gilbert police, reported the crime just before…
U.S. District G. Murray Snow ruled today that any Hispanic stopped by Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s deputies since January 1, 2007 — or will be stopped in the future — can sue the Sheriff’s Office in a class-action lawsuit. The ruling in the Melendres racial-profiling case also enjoins the Maricopa County…
U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow today criticized the policies of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in a lawsuit alleging racial profiling by deputies, and says he’ll make a decision in one or two days.Overall, this morning’s hearing in the Ortega Melendres vs. MCSO lawsuit seemed to go well for…
Phoenix Sergeant Steve Martos confirms to New Times that the deaths of two people found in a Phoenix home last night is suspected to be a case of murder/suicide.Martos says it appears Dylan Bell fatally shot 24-year-old Marilyn Guerra before turning the gun on himself.When the bodies were found, Guerra’s…
Bryan Stewart, a.k.a. “Rick Valentini,” was in Maricopa County Superior Court this morning where he was sentenced to 22 years in prison for the presumed murder of his ex-girlfriend Jamie Laiaddee.Laiddee’s body was never found, but while Stewart was in police custody, he was heard telling other inmates that he…
A Phoenix woman’s 10-month-old baby was found crying in a Phoenix home last night as she sat next to the bodies of her murdered mother and her mother’s boyfriend.The victims have been identified as 24-year-old Marilyn Guerra and Dylan Bell, who’s in his mid-20s.Phoenix police say officers responded to a…
Does the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office have the right to detain you if you seem to be violating one element of a criminal statute?The office’s lawyer, Tim Casey, is arguing with U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow over that question right now in this morning’s hearing in the Melendres vs. MCSO…
According to Troy Allen Puetz, his ex-girlfriend — who currently has an order of protection against him — is into some real “kinky shit.”She’s not kinky enough to ask him to stand outside her window and videotape her having sex with another man, though — which is what police say…
The Glendale Police Department says it now believes the body of missing 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley was thrown in a trash can in Tempe and may be in a landfill just south of the Valley.Glendale Officer Tracey Breeden tells New Times that the case is now a homicide investigation and that Jhessye Shockley’s…
Remember last year when a guy was arrested after Glendale police found what appeared to be the beginning stages of an underground, Silence of the Lambs-esque sex-dungeon being built in his back yard? Well, he’s going to prison…for a long time.William Willis, 46, pleaded guilty earlier this year to one…
A 19-year-old Phoenix man is in “extremely critical condition” after reportedly getting shot in the head while driving through a Phoenix park last night.Phoenix Sergeant Steve Martos says the victim and a 17-year-old friend were driving through a park at 3100 West Morten Avenue in Phoenix about 8:15 p.m. yesterday…
Former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and his former underling Lisa Aubuchon must be disbarred in order to restore public trust in the legal system, the State Bar’s investigating lawyer has found.The opinion comes in two documents filed today with the state Supreme Court: A closing argument and “finding of…
