Glendale Human Resources Director Alma Carmicle got a bonus and a bump in pay — at a time when wages were frozen for employees citywide — and was allowed to remain on Glendale’s payroll even though she and her family moved to Mississippi.The Arizona Republic reported that Carmicle “received a…
A man is dead — and a Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office detention officer is missing a toe — following a shootout on a Phoenix freeway over the weekend.According to the MCSO, the detention officer — a drug recognition expert — was part of a Holiday DUI task force patrolling Valley…
Federal authorities promised today to take up the slack in Maricopa County jails following the severing of ties with the sheriff’s office over allegations of widespread racial profiling. In a letter today to Arizona Senator Jon Kyl, an official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security vowed to leave “no gap” in immigration enforcement. Fifty agents from…
The following is a statement issued by Phoenix Police Department spokesman Steve Martos, regarding the arrest of Ernest “Marty” Atencio.Martos states that Atencio was arrested for assault after displaying some very odd behavior, as you’ll read. He also notes that the PPD believes its officers did not Tase Atencio. He further…
As you probably know by now, North Korea’s communist dictator, Kim Jong Il, is dead. In addition to being dead, the “Dear Leader” is also in a “warm corner of hell” with the likes of Adolf Hitler and Osama bin Laden.That’s according to Arizona Senator John McCain, who reacted to…
The Arizona Attorney General continues its inquiry into El Mirage and allegations that city officials used city resources to influence the outcome of an $8.5 million bond election on November 8.The bond passed with a mere three-vote margin.El Mirage provided some rather interesting responses to questions posed by the AG’s…
A Mesa woman was found safe over the weekend after being missing for nearly a week.Mesa police say Sophia Vargas, 28, contacted her family on Saturday. She’s apparently OK, according to Mesa Detective Steve Berry. Vargas left her house about 8 p.m. Monday night, when she told her cousin she…
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…
Jack Hegarty, the former boss of the Arizona Highway Patrol who was demoted in October, is being investigated for an allegedly unethical use of baseball tickets, the state Department of Public Safety confirmed today. The probe was spurred by a photograph (see below) of Hegarty and another DPS officer, Tim…
The latest FBI crime report shows violent crime was on the increase in most Arizona cities for the first half of 2011, even as the rate of such crimes fell nationwide.Phoenix’s violent crime rate went up 2 percent in the first six months of the year, (from 3,188 reported incidents…
After a 1-6 start, the Arizona Cardinals still have an outside chance of making the playoffs thanks to a Tebow-esque fourth quarter in the team’s 20-17 overtime win over the Cleveland Browns yesterday.The W is the Cards’ third overtime win in seven games.”We have a flair for dramatics,” wide receiver…
Last week, in honor of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s comeuppance ( Department of Justice investigations, botched sex-crime investigations, etc.), we submitted the above photo of the sheriff and his PR puppy for this week’s New Times You Write the Caption contest.If you missed our post on the sheriff shamelessly…
A distraught Mike Atencio, on his way to the hospital to watch his brother Ernest “Marty” Atencio die, told me today that he and his family believe his brother was “murdered” by Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s thugs in the Fourth Avenue Jail.”The sheriff’s office murdered my brother,” said Atencio, acting as…
Note: For Updates, including the name and mugshot of the victim, see below.Following on the heels of a report by the U.S. Department of Justice condemning the MCSO for engaging in “discriminatory policing” and blasting its treatment of Latinos in and out of its jails, an incident involving a prisoner…
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery expressed skepticism today about the claims of racial profiling by the Sheriff’s Office, and demanded the return of a jail program to identify illegal immigrants. The feds announced yesterday they were canceling the 287(g) program in Maricopa County due to findings by the U.S…
Luis Alberto Ochoa has a fairly extensive porn collection, which would be fine if it wasn’t made up of hundreds of videos and images of children.Ochoa was arrested yesterday morning after police tracked a kiddy-porn video to the IP address on the computer in his Phoenix home.According to court records…
“No sir it wasn’t me, sir — I swear it wasn’t!”That’s what Jermaine “Huggy” Hopkins, the fat kid in the film Lean on Me, famously told his prickly principal (played by Morgan Freeman) to get out of a jam in the 1989 classic.The line apparently didn’t work as well on…
The hits keep coming for the folks at Arizona Child Protective Services — the latest child killed by a person the agency has investigated in the past is 1-year-old Aleigh Torres, who police say was murdered by her mother’s boyfriend, 22-year-old Miguel “Angel” Garcia.According to court records obtained by New…
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau isn’t ready to comment this morning on the impact of severing ties with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.Which is a shame, because we have some good questions for them. Like, why was ICE supervising operations (see the last couple of pages of its…
A Mesa woman has been missing since Monday, when she told family members she was going out to meet some friends she met on the Internet.According to the Mesa Police Department, Sophia Vargas, 28, left her house about 8 p.m. Monday night, when she told her cousin she was going…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s having a rough week — Department of Justice investigations, botched sex-crime investigations, etc.To celebrate Arpaio’s comeuppance, we’re goin’ with the above photo of America’s self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff” cozyin’ up to his PR puppy for this week’s New Times You Write the Caption contest.If you missed…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s had a pretty rough week — aside from the Department of Justice determining that he’s guilty of the worst racial-profiling practices in U.S. history, the sheriff is still dealing with the fallout from the Associated Press’ decision to pull the old El Mirage botched sex-crime…
