After two years under a bogus investigation by Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and Sheriff Joe Arpaio, state Attorney General Terry Goddard is fighting back with his own investigation. Goddard has launched a probe into Thomas’ questionable acts, the Arizona Republic reported last night. The article doesn’t get specific about what Goddard…
Maricopa County officials can’t sue the Sheriff’s Office for buying a $465,000 bus without their approval, so now they want to sue the bus company. Precisely why Motor Coach Industries would be sued over the internal squabble remains unclear. The county has maintained in this months-long bus battle that Sheriff Arpaio’s office bought the…
Phoenix police caught a disgraced former minister of the First Southern Baptist Church of Phoenix of masturbating at a local adult store, New Times has learned. We reported previously on the March 9 arrest and subsequent resignation of Gordon Christopher, the longtime employee of the 88-year-old Phoenix church; cops have finally released the details. It turns…
The claim against Maricopa County by Supervisor Don Stapley, and other similar claims expected to roll in, will be handled outside the county’s “chain of command,” says County Manager David Smith. In response to questions raised by New Times yesterday, Smith agreed that Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox and other county…
In preparation of filing a legal claim, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe is demanding that county officials preserve all evidence related to the investigation against him. A letter from Michael Manning, the local lawyer Donahoe has hired to represent him, states that “it is anticipated that legal action will…
Image: Ray Stern It seems likely that Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, (seen here with husband, Earl, and attorney Colin Campbell), will file a claim against the county like Don Stapley did last week. The malicious prosecution claim filed against Maricopa County by Don Stapley, chairman of the county Board of Supervisors,…
A San Diego man was ridin’ dirty through Goodyear yesterday, but Department of Public Safety officers cleaned him up.Rap metaphors aside, a guy got busted with about 17 pounds of crystal meth hidden in the bumper of his car…
For the last two years, Maricopa Citizens for Safety and Accountability have been on the outside looking in: The anti-Arpaio activists in the MCSA have been hassled, cut off, and even arrested at meetings of the county Board of Supervisors.Not today. Today the group had the floor for more than hour…
A Gilbert Rabbi was arrested today in the 2000 rape of a 7-year-old girl in New York City.The U.S. Marshals Service tells New Times that its Child Predator Apprehension Team and detectives with the New York Police Department picked up 45-year-old Bryan Bramley outside of the Temple Beth Shalom Synagogue…
To guard against possible conflicts of interest, the Arizona Supreme Court has handed off bar complaints against Maricopa County Attorney Andy Thomas to a Colorado official. John Gleason, regulation attorney for the Colorado Supreme Court’s Office of Attorney Regulation will now have the job of sorting out the various allegations of…
A 19-year-old man shot in the midsection during a fight outside of a Scottsdale house last week would have suffered worse injuries but for a well-timed punch, says the man’s father. Ted Leitner, a sportscaster for the San Diego Padres and other teams, told a San Diego Union-Tribune columnist that…
David Elms, founder of a hooker-finding Web site, has been sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison for trying to hire someone to assault a business rival. Elms also was sentenced to five years’ probation for his role in the infamous Desert Divas prostitution ring broken up by authorities a couple of…
Critics of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio will have the chance to air their grievances tomorrow before County Supervisors Don Stapley and Mary Rose Wilcox.Stapley and Wilcox, still fresh from their recent victories over attempts by Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas to prosecute them, will meet with members of…
Police today released the sketch of a man sought in connection with the kidnapping and molestation of a 4-year-old girl in Phoenix on Saturday. The case sounds like the stereotypical parental nightmare: A little girl snatched by a pervert in a public place during daylight hours. Cops say the girl…
Jack Rose, the man who put together the deal to bring the Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds to Goodyear for spring training, only to be driven from the project under a cloud of suspicion, has been charged in a criminal complaint.The felony charges were filed by the Maricopa County Attorney’s…
Maricopa County Supervisor Don Stapley filed a precursor to a lawsuit today against the county and various elected officials — including himself — for alleged malicious prosecution and other grievances. He wants $5 million for his troubles. The notice of claim was filed with the Board of Supervisors, of which he is chairman, Sheriff…
Hear that?It’s the sound of Sheriff Joe Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas saying absolutely nothing after their March 11 news conference was shown to be a total farce.At the conference with the elected officials and their attorney, Robert Driscoll, reporters and the public were led to believe the U.S…
The person who called in a bomb threat that cleared out the Maricopa County Superior Court building on December 2, one day after a detention officer was ordered to jail by a judge, made a similar threat to the Public Defender’s Office two days before. Some folks may never believe…
The music minister of the First Southern Baptist Church of Phoenix has resigned after being arrested last week in connection with a misdemeanor sex crime. Phoenix police arrested Gordon Christopher, 59, about 5:45 p.m. on March 9, and sought prosecution on a charge of “public sexual indecency — sexual contact,” records show…
That was fast.Just one short week after he was appointed to be a special investigator, charged with probing Bar complaints into Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, J. Scott Rhodes has withdrawn from the task.The news came in a written statement from the Arizona Supreme Court this afternoon. The court had…
E-mails penned by Maricopa County sheriff’s officers — as well as all other county employees — will stay for now with Maricopa County officials, and not the Sheriff’s Office, a judge has ruled.At a hearing in Tucson last week, Pima County Superior Court Judge Ted Borek ordered that his preliminary…
Former Congressman J.D. Hayworth says the only way to keep a man from marrying a horse is through a federal marriage amendment.Naturally, we can think of several other snafus that might keep a man from marrying a horse — namely a horse’s inability to speak or sign a marriage license (basic…
