The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, via Channel 15 (KNXV-TV), says County Supervisor Don Stapley is being accused of 93 felonies and seven misdemeanors related to illicit finances. And we heard something interesting from our own sources: This arrest didn’t involve a grand jury indictment or even a prosecutor’s office. It…
Don Stapley (pictured) was arrested this morning by Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies and booked into jail. What a difference a weekend makes! On Friday afternoon, it looked like Stapley’s legal troubles were all but over. The Yavapai County Attorney’s Office had moved to drop all remaining charges against Stapley related to his alleged…
Don Stapley won. Andrew Thomas and Joe Arpaio lost. The Maricopa County Supervisor has been under a legal black cloud since December, when County Attorney Thomas slammed him with 118 felony counts of violating campaign finance law. But Thomas tossed the case to Yavapai County prosecutors after losing several key court battles,…
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas has been ordered to personally attend a settlement conference in a death penalty case — and may have attend many more such hearings. Two years ago, Thomas wanted Judge Timothy Ryan to recuse himself from cases involving the County Attorney’s Office, claiming Ryan showed bias…
A 14-year-old boy, whom police in Louisiana found malnourished, injured, and living in a dumpy old trailer with his abusive father, is being returned to his mother here in Arizona.Last week, a St. Bernard Parish constable went to the trailer park where the boy lived with his father, with the intention of…
As much as we hate to quote Keanu Reeves, in the 1989 film “Parenthood,” his halfwit character “Tod” makes a coarse but eloquent point about paternity.When describing his father to his future mother-in-law, “Tod” tells her, “You know, Mrs. Buckman, you need a license to buy a dog, to drive…
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas will try another venue to appeal his lost lawsuit against the county after being turned down by the state Supreme Court. Barnett Lotstein, a top aide to Thomas, tells New Times that the case — which involves the county’s strip of Thomas’ power to handle civil lawsuits — will be…
About 10 a.m. Friday, police responded to what they initially thought was an attempted suicide at a unit of a residential community at 6721 East McDowell Road.A man was found shot in the chest, and according to police reports, in “grave” shape.The man, 42-year-old Alberto Gonzales, was alive when police…
That was quick. The Arizona Supreme Court has rejected Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas’ appeal of his failed lawsuit over the power to handle the county’s civil lawsuits. Click heref or the short, to-the-point ruling. …
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas is making what may be his final stand against his enemies in county management with an appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court. In a 37-page brief filed today, Thomas tells the Court he wants it to strike down as illegal the County Supervisors’ takeover of civil…
The mother of the three-year-old girl, and the mother’s boyfriend were officially charged with the child’s murder yesterday by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.Police say the child’s mother, 26-year-old Susan Witbracht, and her boyfriend Dauntorian Sanders, 23, both of Chandler, beat the toddler with a belt until she was covered in…
A Chandler man is in custody after, police say, he dropped his three-week-old daughter on the ground, and poked her in the eyes. The newborn was left with serious injuries.Brian Mark Hopf, 25, was arrested after his daughter was admitted to the hospital with “life-threatening injuries” including multiple skull fractures, fractured…
Sedona man Jack Louis Sporich–also known as the “Pied Piper of Pedophiles”–was arrested yesterday after being extradited from Cambodia for molesting four children under the age of 14. He and two others– Erik Peeters, 41, Ronald “John” Boyajian, 59 –were caught as part of the international sex sting “Operation Twisted…
Chandler police Wednesday released the audio of the 911 call in the death of a 3-year-old girl. The callers: the mother and boyfriend of the dead child, who have both been charged with first-degree murder for her death. “Yes, my [expletive] child isn’t breathing right now,” you can hear the boyfriend, 23-year-old…
The video of the man who tried to feed a six-week-old kitten to a python has surfaced, and this guy is a bigger dirt bag than originally anticipated.You can see the video here, but if you ever want to smile again, we suggest you just take our word for it;…
Chandler Police arrested two people in connection with the beating death of a 3-year-old child Monday.Police say that the child’s mother, 26-year-old Susan Witbracht, and her boyfriend, 23-year-old Dauntorian Sanders, beat the toddler with a belt until she was covered in bruises and had stopped breathing.”Speaking to the investigators, they’ve…
A convicted killer serving a life sentence in Wisconsin for a 1978 double-murder has been charged in the 1973 murder of 22-year-old Leesa Jo Shaner. According to an article last year in the Wisconsin’s Journal-Sentinel, Shaner was on her way to pick up her husband at the Tucson Airport when…
Angela Simpson, the Phoenix woman accused of torturing a disabled man over three days before killing and dismembering him, was indicted on charges of first-degree murder and kidnapping, the Maricopa County Attorney Office’s announced today. This is one of those cases that make you wonder about the planet you’re living on. The…
Just looked at the minute entry for a major ruling in one of the bigger lawsuits between Maricopa County leadership and the county attorney — and boy-howdy, what an ass-whuppin’ on Andrew Thomas. The suit was filed by Thomas after the Board of Supervisors took away his ability to handle civil lawsuits and set…
Paul Charlton, former U.S. Attorney in Arizona and lawyer for indicted County Supervisor Don Stapley, says Andrew Thomas has only one person to blame — himself — for the embarrassing dismissal of 51 of 117 criminal counts against Stapley. As our follow-up post last night related, Thomas, the county attorney, claims that Stapley was…
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…
