A Grand Jury indicted Mindy Shields, daughter of influential Phoenix lobbyist Billy Shields, for Class 2 felony theft. The charges against Mindy Shields stem from the embezzlement of more than $77,000 from Friends of Greg Stanton, a political campaign belonging to the former councilman and Phoenix mayoral candidate. Shields, a…
Gary Allen Bahns told Mesa police yesterday that he planned to sell the stolen van in which he was found sleeping and use the proceeds to buy crystal meth.You might be thinking “it’s 2011 — who would buy a minivan?” If you ask Bahns, the answer’s “a Mexican,” that’s who.Bahns…
When Tucson shooting suspect Jared Loughner was in court last month, there was confusion over what he said to the judge during an outburst that got him booted from the courtroom.Most of the media quoted him as saying “thank you for the freak show. She died in front of me.”Translating the…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio turns 79 today — which marks the one-year anniversary of his birthday getting “ruined” by blind people.On the sheriff’s 78th birthday, he pouted all day because the National Convention for Guide Dog Users gave Joe the boot as its keynote speaker at a convention in…
As Sheriff Joe Arpaio brags for arresting six immigrants heading for the southeastern United States, a group of United States Senators is releasing a report noting that 70 percent of captured guns used by drug cartels in Mexico originated in the United States. One of these smuggling problems is worse than…
Prison escapee John McCluskey’s Arizona trial is going on right now, and he better behave — or he’ll be shocked electrically.The judge overseeing McCluskey’s case found it appropriate to hook the alleged two-time murderer up to a stun belt for the duration of his trial.A stun belt is a battery-powered…
Maricopa County’s corrupt top cop, Joe Arpaio, is boasting about six illegal immigrants his deputies arrested yesterday — he’s so impressed with himself, in fact, he wants a thank you.The immigrant roundup went down in the north Valley. The Sheriff’s Office says the immigrants paid smugglers $2,000 to bring them…
Miguel Aparicio’s story is a prime example of how the U.S. immigration system can take someone from one extreme to another.In 2009, as he was driving down to a friend’s house in Casa Grande to do some electrician work, he was pulled over for a minor traffic stop. In the…
When a pitcher goes 4.2 innings, gives up 13 hits, and allows seven earned runs, it’s tough to find a silver lining in their performance. Despite being abominable on the mound during yesterday’s game against the Florida Marlins, Zach Duke did manage to hit a two-run blast off Marlins starter…
A man who says he is not Gary Whalen, a conservative candidate running for a seat on the Phoenix City Council, tells New Times an interesting yarn to explain away his Whalen’s arrest in January for assaulting his boyfriend.We wrote yesterday about Whalen, 42, getting arrested on January 23 after…
While he wasn’t caught with a dead woman, or a live boy, conservative Phoenix City Council wannabe Gary Whalen did get arrested for a domestic-violence assault on his then-live-in boyfriend just days after registering to run for office — a little factoid he probably wishes New Times hadn’t unearthed.Then, it…
Even though I’m on deadline for this week’s column, I couldn’t miss today’s action by the Russell Pearce-recall group Citizens for a Better Arizona, during which organizer Randy Parraz attempted to deliver to the state Senate President his first ever (to my knowledge) unemployment “check” dated December 5, 2011. That…
In the 24-hour news cycle, it can be difficult to keep up. We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times’ blogs. Today’s entries:…
Rudy Soriano was sentenced today for the March 2010 murder of 32-year-old Rodolpho Yurralde, after which he wheeled Yurralde’s dead body around a Phoenix apartment complex before accidentally tipping it over.Soriano, 26, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in April.Phoenix police found Yurralde’s body outside of a west Phoenix apartment complex…
The state Legislature recessed indefinitely today from its special session without making a minor change in state law that would allow some 45,000 jobless Arizonans to continue receiving unemployment checks.Around 15,000 out-of-work Sand Landers will receive a check this week, and then no more. The Arizona Department of Economic Security…
The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” for Men’s Health Week (going on now), and in Arizona, bad and ugly outweigh good. The CDC says in its report that 73 percent of Arizona men are obese or overweight. And they rank worse than the…
A former pastor at a Tempe church — serving a 15-year prison sentence for molesting a 14-year-old member of his congregation — has pleaded guilty to molesting two other members of a congregation he led in Ohio.Joshua O’Bannion, 27, pleaded guilty in a Cuyahoga County, Ohio, court to four counts of…
Just four days after Gary Whalen signed up to run for the Phoenix City Council in January, police report that they arrested him at his North Phoenix home for getting into a fight with his ex-boyfriend.We left a message for Whalen, who qualified for the ballot on May 27 to run for the…
If you’re the clerk at a store you’re trying to rip off, the first rule of staging an armed robbery is don’t tell police it’s fake. Second rule of staging an armed robbery: DON’T TELL POLICE IT’S FAKE!Lincoln Knight, a clerk at a PLS Pay Day Loan Store near 43rd…
“World Elder Abuse Day” actually exists, but the title is misleading — it’s not a day to beat up old people, it’s a day to raise awareness of people who beat up old people.Wednesday is the official day not to abuse old folks, and Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne is scheduled to kick…
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ staffers released the long-awaited first photo of the congresswoman since she was shot in the face during the January 8 Tucson shooting rampage…
Vicente Fernandez, a Mexican ranchero singer, angered some in Arizona’s Latino community when he decided to not only perform in an anti-immigrant state, but also because he is being sponsored by Budweiser.Scores of people showed up at US Airways Center Friday evening to show their disdain for the beloved Mexican…
