Crime & Police

​ Robbing a Circle K — how unoriginal. The alleged bandit in this photo waltzed into the store at 1262 West Chandler Boulevard, waving his gun around and demanding cash, Chandler cops say…

It was a given that Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas was going to be miffed by the recent ruling on Don Stapley’s case by Superior Court Judge Kenneth Fields. Thomas has been saying for months that Fields is biased against him and he tried to get the judge kicked off…

  A Phoenix man has been arrested in connection with the sexual assault of a woman last Friday at Mill Avenue and 4th Street in Tempe. The man, Akram Abdul-Hameed, is on trial currently for criminal damage, trespassing and assault in a separate Tempe incident that occurred in June. The…

  It’s 51 down, 67 criminal counts to go for Maricopa County Supervisor Don Stapley. The county leader under investigation and indictment for failure to follow campaign finance disclosure laws convinced Superior Court Judge Kenneth Fields to dismiss nearly half the counts on a technicality. Stapley’s being strung up on a…

Maricopa County Treasurer Charles “Hos” Hoskins has finally carried through on a threat he made back in December to sue the county again. Hoskins already has a lawsuit pending against the county regarding the alleged swiping of his office’s IT equipment. Hoskins believes drastic budget cuts imposed by the county…

The crime is sophisticated and devious: You’re tricked into swiping your card in a thieving cardreader planted over the real one. Meanwhile, the would-be Lex Luthors are watching you punch in your PIN with binoculars or cameras. Phoenix cops say the movie-like scenario actually happens — they call it “skimming”…

  The Phoenix police cold case squad, in conjunction with the U.S. Marshals Office, arrested an elderly man at a long-term care facility in connection with a 1987 murder. Cops say that on October 20, 1987, Roger Cook (pictured) pointed a .357 Magnum at two young men who had jumped a fence (UPDATE -…

Phoenix cops call the murder of Terry Neely, 46, one of the most heinous they’ve ever seen — and indeed, these details can make the most jaded news reader shudder. Even the beginning of the attack was cruel: The suspect, Angela Simpson, 33, lured the disabled man into an apartment near…

  The owner of a $3.5 million mansion in the Biltmore Estates was arrested today by Phoenix police in connection with an arson fire that burned the place to the ground. Michael Marin told Channel 15 (KNXV-TV) today that he was “utterly shocked” at the accusation and has a “conscience…

Chandler is facing a few problems right now. First: Someone is going around stealing makeup from local cosmetics stores. Second: Police suspect it’s a middle-aged man. Chandler police are asking for the public’s help in tracking down a man suspected of shoplifting more than $10,000 worth of cosmetics over the…

To Live and Die in L.A. Phoenix. Thankfully, this big-money bust didn’t involve a nail-biting, wrong-way drive on the freeway that made for such a great action scene in the above-linked movie. Nope, just some good detective work by local cops who followed up on a tip a couple of…

  An “aggressive investigation” by Scottsdale police has led to the arrest of a suspect in the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old prostitute last month. Brian Nathaniel Black, 25, abducted the victim the night before her bullet-ridden body was found in front of an unoccupied house near Hayden Road and Shea Boulevard, says…

A Phoenix man who police say cried wolf way too many times is behind bars, and potentially facing more than 100 felony charges.  Arrested yesterday by Phoenix police, the guy’s suspected of making at least 152 prank calls to police dispatchers since May, 2008. Police described the apparently very bored gent as being in…

When an employee at a drive-through fast-food restaurant forgets to include the appropriate condiments in your go bag, you’re irked. If you’re a jerk, you ask to speak to the manager. But you’d have to have a screw loose to try to hit an employee with your car, which is what police…

Fire crews battling a blaze at the Covenant of Grace Christian Fellowship Church at the corner of 9th Avenue and Peoria Avenue found the body of a 46-year-old man in a church trash can early this morning. The body was so badly burned that, at first, police couldn’t determine if the…

Some things are best left to others — like trying to catch a criminal in the act. Police don’t know for sure what happened to Jose Favela-Lopez, a 52-year-old apartment manager found dead yesterday morning. However, police statements make it seem like Favela-Lopez fatally overestimated himself. The manager of the…

  Got sand? Sure, but what good does it do when someone steals your $85,000 dune buggy? Chandler police report today that on July 11, thieves broke into the yard at Automotive Diagnostic Specialties, 6835 West Chandler Boulevard, then loaded up a flashy Black Widow sand rail (the one in the pictures) onto…

A 17-year-old kid got separated from his buddies on Saturday after a day at the Salt River and accepted a ride home from four dudes. Bad move. The guys drove the teen to an apartment complex at 1803 North Country Club Drive and ordered him to get out of the…

  We’re still waiting for info from the Peoria Police Department on this one, but the Arizona Republic has a story on it already: A 27-year-old woman has been arrested for killing her boyfriend’s 3-year-old niece. This is yet another truly heinous case of child abuse, whoever did it: The…

Four boys ages 9, 10, 13 and 14 lured an 8-year-old neighbor into a shed at a Phoenix apartment complex, then sexually assaulted her, police say. The crime happened last Thursday evening, and police were called to the scene after reports of a young girl running out of the shed,…

  We just found a reason to support Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio’s proposal to regulate door-to-door salespeople: Jesse Lee Wise. As we reported Friday, Wise was arrested last week in Chesapeake, Virginia, and accused by police of taking a bus from the Valley to meet a 13-year-old chat-room buddy…

  Image: Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Raymond Steele, Levi Blanton and Russell Westergard Are the Juggalos a “criminal street gang” or not? We say no. Mesa police — in this case, anyway — say yes. Cops busted a trio of woop-woopers on Wednesday in connection with four break-ins at a deaf school. According…