In the past week, Gilbert police — under the leadership of Chief Tim Dorn — have raided the home of a qualifying medical marijuana patient, arrested another patient, and busted up a pot-patient co-op in Tempe.As we’ve pointed out, it seems the Gilbert Police Department is going rogue with its arrests…
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:…
“Yes?” No. About 40 people have been laid off at the Arizona Republic, which also announced plans to close a Chandler press that prints USA Today and various inserts. The local pink slips come as part of a 2 percent layoff at Gannett’s publishing division nationwide. About 700 people are…
Victor Riches, chief of staff to Republican Arizona House Speaker Andy Tobin, had two vials of cocaine in his leased car when police pulled him over last year on suspicion of DUI. Bicycle riders take heed: Riches was seen speeding and driving in a bike lane near his north-central Phoenix home before…
Since our previous post about 53-year-old John Szakin, a registered sex offender/admitted serial flasher, the Scottsdale Police Department confirms to New Times that he’s suspected of being the same guy who was photographed walking through Scottsdale wearing nothing but a hat and shoes in June of last year.As we noted…
A Chandler meth head accused of murdering his 3-week-old daughter has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.In addition to pleading guilty to murder, 27-year-old Brian Hopf pleaded guilty to child abuse for assaults that include poking the infant girl, Isabella, in the eyes.Hopf was initially charged with first-degree murder and was…
Valley Metro is taking some heat this week over several fights that have gone down on Light Rail trains recently, videos of which later appeared on YouTube.12 News is trying to get to the bottom of an alleged lack of appropriate security on the “Fight Rail,” and includes in its story brief…
Registered sex offender John Szakin’s got a hobby: at least once a week for the past year, he’s gone to downtown Scottsdale early in the morning with the sole purpose of flashing women as they left bars.Early Sunday morning, about 1:30, Szakin was on the prowl near Fifth Avenue and…
Gilbert police are taking a harsher stance on the state’s new medical-marijuana law than other Valley police agencies, but Police Chief Tim Dorn can’t be troubled to explain his policy. Dorn’s hiding behind his spokesman, Sergeant Bill Balafas, who tells New Times that we won’t get an interview — or…
In the latest sign that Gilbert police have gone rogue, a medical-marijuana patient tells New Times that he was taken to jail two nights ago for possessing a half-ounce of weed. This is the third case we’ve heard about in the past week in which Gilbert officers allegedly…
Mesa police arrested a man they say is responsible for a fatal hit-and-run incident early Sunday morning, during which one of the victims’ legs was severed.The leg, however, was not found at the scene.Police suspected the leg might have become attached to the vehicle that hit the two 25-year-old victims,…
As the saying goes, you have to spend money to make money. In Maricopa County’s case, it has to spend money just to make sure Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio spends taxpayer cash properly.The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors adopted a $2.3 billion budget yesterday, $1.65 million of which isn’t…
When white nationalist websites and racist minutemen with erstwhile ties to child killers are championing your cause, you know you’ve made a serious error. Particularly when you’re a failed presidential candidate still desperate for the world to take you seriously.Such is the case with U.S. Senator from Arizona John McCain,…
A Phoenix man who called 9-1-1 to report a fake bomb scare, then started shooting at responding officers before getting capped by the cops, has survived his gunshot wounds — and now he’s in some serious trouble.Phoenix’s Derek Eckles, 28, was released from the hospital Saturday and booked into the…
Gilbert police made another medical-marijuana raid last week — this one at the office of a Tempe advocacy group where patients sold pot to other patients.About 4 p.m. last Thursday, cops — some in masks — entered the small office of the Medical Marijuana Advocacy Group, in an industrial complex at…
Parker allowed us into his locker room–a rather frightening place at times — and into his much-more-comfortable home for an up-close-and-personal look at a complicated man and his controversial program. We came to admire and respect Coach Parker, as much for his hardscrabble back story, the tale of…
If the headline of this post seems like a stupid question, that’s because it is.Of course 37-year-old high school track coach — and illegal immigrant living in the United States for the last 22 years — Miguel Aparicio shouldn’t have been deported. He’s not a gang-banger, he’s not a drug…
Last week United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement honcho John Morton announced a series of “improvements” meant to keep ICE’s focus on deporting aliens with serious criminal records.In spite of these highly touted policy changes, ICE today deported a Phoenix high school cross-country coach who had done a lot of…
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:…
Plastic-surgeon-from-hell Peter Normann, on trial in Maricopa County Superior Court in the deaths of three patients, hired an assistant who had never been trained properly, according to testimony in his trial.Actual certification comes with the completion of a 42-week course run by a medical institution, a course his assistant never took.On the ninth…
The United States Attorney’s Office announced today that a man who killed his unborn baby has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter.Fernando Woody, 28, of Fort Defiance pleaded guilty to the crime in March…
There’s a new addition to Arizona State University’s growing list of campus creepsters.The ASU Police Department warns students who live on campus about a man who — while wearing shorts and a T-shirt — claimed he was a police officer and entered the dorm of a female student.He didn’t take…
