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Arpaio's Escaped Child Rapist in Custody After Six Years on the Lam

By Stephen Lemons
Apr 29, 2015

Adrian Cruz, the child-raping ice cream peddler who escaped from MCSO custody in 2009, is back behind bars, no thanks to Sheriff Joe. Mexican police, tipped off by the U.S. Marshals Service that Cruz was in Valle de Bravo, a small municipality about 90 miles west of Mexico City, nabbed...
Arpaio's Chief Deputy Confirms Wack Investigations of Judge's Wife, CIA, DOJ, etc.

By Stephen Lemons
Apr 25, 2015

Here's my pick for the most ridiculous quote from MCSO Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan's testimony in federal court Friday, during day-four of his and Sheriff Joe Arpaio's civil contempt trial in downtown Phoenix: "It depends on how you define, `investigated your wife,'" said Sheridan, his face redder than a pack...
Arpaio Cops to Investigating Federal Judge, Judge's Wife, Confirming New Times Story

By Stephen Lemons
Apr 24, 2015

In my line of work, it doesn't get much better than a federal judge's handing your column to a public official, and getting the accused pol to confirm the column's facts, one by one, under oath. This is what happened on day three of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's civil contempt trial,...
Noose Tightens Around Arpaio's Neck as He Channels Ronnie Reagan in Day Two of Contempt Trial

By Stephen Lemons
Apr 23, 2015

Think To Kill a Mockingbird's Atticus Finch doing Jedi mind tricks on an addled Emperor Palpatine. That's what Stanley Young, the plaintiffs' lead attorney in the ACLU's big civil rights case Melendres v. Arpaio, resembled as he interrogated Sheriff Joe Wednesday afternoon during day two of Joe's civil contempt trial...
MCSO Sergeant Implicates Arpaio in Willful Defiance of Federal Judge

By Stephen Lemons
Apr 22, 2015

MCSO Sergeant Brett Palmer sang like Pavarotti on the stand Tuesday afternoon during his boss Sheriff Joe Arpaio's civil contempt trial, laying the blame for the MCSO's defiance of a federal court's orders directly at his jefe's feet. Dressed in civilian attire, Palmer, who once helped manage the MCSO's now-defunct...
"Slut-Shaming" Preacher Harasses Tempe Mosque, Tears Up Quran

By Stephen Lemons
Apr 17, 2015

Wacko bigot preacher Brother Dean Saxton and a crew of fellow jerks harass the mosque in Tempe I hate giving morons free publicity, but sometimes it's necessary to spotlight the stupid as a sort of public service. Such is the case with Tucson's notorious "slut-shaming" street preacher Brother Dean Saxton,...
Simcox Molestation Trial Stayed by High Court Till April 29 Hearing

By Stephen Lemons
Apr 9, 2015

The trial of ex-Minuteman leader Chris Simcox on allegations that he molested two young girls in 2013 was put on hold Thursday by an Arizona Supreme Court Justice, at least till the end of this month. At issue is whether the 54 year-old Simcox, who is representing himself, will be...
Joe Arpaio Costs Taxpayers $14.2 Million in Melendres and DOJ Lawsuits

By Stephen Lemons
Apr 7, 2015

Federal Judge G. Murray Snow recently told Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio that he wanted the sheriff to have some "skin in the game" in regards to an upcoming civil contempt trial of Arpaio and four other current and former MCSO honchos set for April 21-24. But when it comes...
Arizona Appeals Court Denies Stay of Trial in Alleged Minuteman Child Molester Case

By Stephen Lemons
Apr 7, 2015

A three-judge panel of the Arizona Court of Appeals has declined to halt a pending trial, where accused child molester and ex-Minuteman leader Chris Simcox will be allowed to cross-examine his alleged child victims. After a telephonic hearing held Monday, Judges Margaret Downie, Patricia Norris and Randall Howe refused to...
Judge Will Allow Alleged Child Molester Chris Simcox to Cross-Examine Victim Children

By Stephen Lemons
Apr 2, 2015

Former Minuteman leader and accused child molester Chris Simcox started his Thursday in Maricopa County Superior Court trying to get Judge Jose Padilla kicked off his case, claiming Padilla favored the prosecution, was a member of La Raza, and therefore was biased against him. Simcox's request quickly was denied by...
Chris Simcox Wants to Personally Cross-Examine Child Victims in Upcoming Trial

By Stephen Lemons
Apr 1, 2015

Alleged child molester, ex-Minuteman jefe, and one-time Republican U.S. Senate candidate Chris Simcox is demanding that a Maricopa County superior court judge allow him to interrogate his alleged child victims in an upcoming trial. In a recently filed motion, Simcox, 54, rejected the county attorney's attempt to shield the girls,...
Sure, John McCain Is Filthy Rich, but He Still Wants Your $25

By Stephen Lemons
Mar 30, 2015

U.S. Senator John McCain says in a new fundraising pitch that he hasn't decided whether to run for a sixth term in the upper chamber of Congress. But he has decided that he wants whatever you got in your wallet, pally. Twenty-five simoleons? Why, that'll do nicely. I mean, it's...
Joe Arpaio's Ex-Lawyer Tim Casey Fights Testifying About Joe's Contempt of Court (w/Update)

By Stephen Lemons
Mar 27, 2015

Note: Please see update on Friday's hearing below. Sheriff Joe Arpaio's former lawyer Tim Casey doesn't want to tell what he knows about Arpaio's contemptuous conduct in the ACLU's big racial profiling case Melendres v. Arpaio, so he's invoking attorney-client privilege to avoid subpoenas and discovery requests in the case...
Arpaio Needs "Skin in the Game," Says Judge, Before Any Civil Contempt Settlement

By Stephen Lemons
Mar 20, 2015

During a hearing in federal court in Phoenix on Friday, Judge G. Murray Snow said more than once that Sheriff Joe Arpaio would have to have "skin in the game" as part of any settlement agreement in contempt allegations against Arpaio and four current and former high-ranking MCSO deputies. Snow...
Joe Arpaio Tries Diverting Media from Guilt Admission, ACLU Still Wants April Hearing

By Stephen Lemons
Mar 20, 2015

So what do you do if you've just undercut more than two decades of selling yourself to the public as "America's Toughest Sheriff" with a groveling admission to a federal judge that you're guilty of civil contempt and are ready to bend over for punishment? If you're Sheriff Joe Arpaio,...
Doug Ducey's Power Grab Continues, Mark Brnovich Pushes Back

By Stephen Lemons
Mar 19, 2015

Some hot, Republican-on-Republican action broke out Wednesday in a state Senate Government Committee hearing, as Senator John Kavanagh offered a "strike all" amendment to House Bill 2420 that creates a state Inspector General's Office, with wide police powers, beholden only to the governor. As I recently reported, the Ducey administration...
Abortion Queen Cathi Herrod Is Back With Another Sick Piece of Legislation Endangering Women and the Doctors Who Serve Them

By Stephen Lemons
Mar 18, 2015

Without abortion and gay sex, Cathi Herrod would cease to exist, melting like the Wicked Witch of the West hit with a torrential downpour. Why, the more sodomy, scissoring, and pregnancy terminations there are, the better off Herrod, president of the Center for Arizona Policy, is. See, her six-figure salary...
Doug Ducey Seeks Expansion of Executive Power in State Inspector General Bill

By Stephen Lemons
Mar 18, 2015

Those allegedly small-gub'mint Republicans are at it again in the state legislature, proposing a brand spankin' new law enforcement agency, beholden only to the governor, and apparently exempt from state public records law. The proffered legislation comes in the form of a "strike everything" amendment from state Senator John Kavanaugh...
Joe Arpaio Admits Guilt in Civil Contempt Case, Seeks to Avoid April Hearing

By Stephen Lemons
Mar 17, 2015

In a bombshell filing in federal court Tuesday, Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan admitted that they are guilty of civil contempt, in a blatant attempt to avoid an upcoming civil trial before U.S. District Court Judge G. Murray Snow. Since earlier this year, when Snow ordered...
Diane Douglas: Clean Elections Poster Girl

By Stephen Lemons
Mar 12, 2015

Were it not for the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Act, Diane Douglas would not be Arizona's Superintendent of Public Instruction. The crazy cat lady now in charge of the Arizona Department of Education would still be a wall-eyed instructor at Glendale's Stained Glass Shop if she hadn't scored $97,620 of...

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