An Avondale man who traded a tattoo for sex with a minor was in Maricopa County Supreme Court this morning where he changed his plea to guilty to various sex-with-a-kid-related charges.Juan Lara, 38, pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted child prostitution and two counts of unlawful tattooing for the…
Tom Horne, the state Attorney General, inherited the SCA case from his predecessor, Terry Goddard. The case is all about the dirty politics played by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and the state Republican Party. Briefly, it involves a secret slush fund of money solicited from fat-cats around the country…
The Arizona Diamondbacks have won the inaugural United Nations NGO Positive Peace Award for community giving, the team announced this afternoon. The award recognizes the team’s work with the Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center and the Boys & Girls Club of Metropolitan Phoenix. Executives from Celebrate Positive will present…
A Canadian financial institution released a survey saying one in five maple leaf-ers want to hop the border to live in the United States, and before you yell “border fence,” consider their intent: they want to invest in America’s housing market (and probably go to hockey games). BMO Bank of…
Thanks to the University of Arizona basketball team’s shocking win over the Duke Blue Devils last night, Mr. Duke himself, Phoenix Suns forward Grant Hill, will don Wildcat Red and Blue for the next 48 hours.Hill and Phoenix Suns teammate/former UA star, Channing Frye, made a bet on last night’s…
In the wake of the Phoenix Police Department’s firing of Officer Richard Chrisman, the cop facing second degree murder charges in the October 5 slaying of an unarmed South Phoenix man, the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association continues to smear fellow Officer Sergio Virgillo, who witnessed the shooting and told investigators…
Kid-killing Minutewoman Shawna Forde’s co-defendant, Jason Eugene Bush, was found guilty this morning in a Pima County Superior Court for the murders of an Arivaca man and his daughter in May 2009.In addition to the two first-degree murder convictions for the murders of Raul “Junior” Flores and his 9-year-old daughter,…
KPHO Cody Bishop (left) died at 18 thanks to Steven Landrum. For a typical Arizonan, “.227” may refer to the box of rifle ammo in their truck, but for Steven Landrum — who was packing a .227 blood-alcohol level while driving his pickup truck when he crashed into and killed…
A Pinal County parolee, who spent seven years in prison for attempted murder, succeeded in killing his own cousin, according to the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office.Jose Martinez, 25, got popped yesterday after several witnesses went to police to tell them he’d killed his own cousin, 18-year-old Antonio Macias Jr.According to…
Julian Titcomb, 21, a volunteer basketball coach at a Valley elementary school, plans to join the Army this May — but that’s probably not going to happen now that he’s been charged eight counts of sexual conduct with a minor for allegedly having sex with a 14-year-old girl.Titcomb was the…
More humor from the secret recording of a command staff meeting at the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office made on July 27, 2009 by Frank Munnell: Joe Arpaio is grousing over a quip made by longtime Valley reporter Howie Fischer on a PBS Horizon roundtable that Arpaio was “bulletproof” and would be re-elected unless he was…
Boy, is this SCA report paying off! We’re still trying to read it all and put it in context. But we keep getting stuck in the rich detail. The chuckle factor on this one is too high to wait for context: All that ignominious sucking up former Maricopa County Andrew Thomas did to the Sheriff’s Office,…
If you’re a female teacher’s aide at a middle school and you send naked pictures of yourself to male, teenage students, there’s a good chance everyone at the school is going to see them. Just ask Gabriela Compton, a teacher’s aide at a Valley middle school, whose ta-tas were seen…
We’ve been watching Arizona basketball since, well, we moved to Tucson in 1973 to attend that fine institution of occasional and usually random learning. We actually were in attendance for the final game at ancient Bear Down Gym, seemingly a throwback to the days of James Naismith and the proverbial…
The Phoenix Police Department announced that following an investigation, it’s been determined that state Senator Scott Bundgaard should be charged with assault for the February 25, freeway fracas with his now-ex-girlfriend Aubry Ballard.Ballard, on the other hand, was taken into custody the night of the incident, but released with the assault…
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:…
We’ve only just begun looking through a large report on the state Attorney General’s SCA investigation, and already we’re finding interesting stuff. But it’s hundreds of pages long and, honestly, we don’t have time to sift through it and cobble the highlights for you tonight. So, rather than sit on…
Like most parents would, off-duty Buckeye police Officer Corrina Griffith got in her car and searched for her stepdaughter after getting word the 15-year-old girl was running away from home. When Griffith, 36, found her stepdaughter hanging out with her teenage friends outside a Bashas’ grocery store about 10…
Glendale eighth-graders who were the subjects of a controversial letter written by a substitute teacher were not “perfectly behaved” in the sub’s class, a school district official admits. But after interviewing the students, district officials don’t believe the class expressed any sort of anti-American sentiment, says Jim Cummings, spokesman for the Glendale…
It’s not everyday that we get two separate e-mails from the Phoenix Police Department with the subject “skeletal remains found.” Today is not like every other day.For the second time in less than 24 hours, a skeleton has been found in the city of Phoenix.According to Phoenix police, the latest bones…
A Desert Hills couple has been charged with murder after the dead body of a 51-year-old relative was found emaciated in their backyard last summer.John and Tara Chesser were arrested Monday after a grand jury indictment was returned charging the couple with the murder of 51-year-old James Chesser — the…
When the near-1,000-foot fence went up in the middle of the University of Arizona campus Monday, it seemed like an obvious message for a university that’s about an hour’s drive from the Mexican border — a cry against U.S. immigration policy. That’s not exactly the case, as photos and observations of the…
