An alleged Phoenix pervert is behind bars on suspicion of spreading some unwanted Christmas (ahem) cheer — cops say he molested his girlfriend’s 9-year-old daughter as she was lying down next to a Christmas tree. Luis Mejia Ortiz was arrested yesterday after admitting to the girl’s mother — his girlfriend…
More than a month after more than two dozen Phoenix cops were ordered to turn their DNA over to investigators so it could be compared to DNA recovered at the scene of the death of Sergeant Sean Drenth, there are still no definitive answers — and none are expected for…
An unidentified Tucson man stepped in front of a train yesterday afternoon and that’s where he stayed until it ran him over. He died and cops suspect it wasn’t an accident.About 1:30 p.m. yesterday, the 45-year-old man was seen stepping in front of an oncoming train. Witnesses told police the…
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:…
Cedric Ceballos, former player and in-arena emcee for the Phoenix Suns, was arrested and cited for a slew of driving violations on December 19 in Scottsdale. The former star player and celebrity was stopped at about 3 a.m. near North Scottsdale Road and East Royal Palm Road in Scottsdale, according…
Nobody can label the folks over at Maricopa County’s Air Quality Department a bunch of Scrooges. After a warning last week that no-burn days on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day would be enforced, exactly zero warnings and citations were issued, a county official says. Oddly, all this non-enforcement happened despite the…
Which is better, the Army or the Navy? Two Florence men argued bitterly over the question on Christmas Day, leading to a fight that ended with a shooting, authorities say. The incident began after Dustin Jakes, 27, invited his former roommate, David Provost, 24, over to his family’s home for…
Adam Ramsower isn’t the only 30-year-old who’s had to move back in with his folks during this ultra-marathon of a recession. But he’s the only one we’ve heard of who wanted to save up for his own place by gambling with money he’d stolen from a bank robbery. …
One of the weirdest details in news coverage of the weekend beating of State Legislator Frank Pratt, a Republican from Casa Grande, was that his stolen SUV was “state issued.” Several media outlets reported that detail, including the Arizona Republic, which stated: She noticed that his car, a state-issued gold…
Rapper Earl Simmons, better known as DMX, is housed in a mental-health unit at an Arizona State Prison Complex facility called Alhambra near 25th street and Van Buren.DMX was sentenced to a year in jail (minus 113 days served) on December 16, after he pleaded guilty to violating the terms of…
A couple of Phoenix strip clubs turned into war zones over the Christmas weekend as homicidal gunmen shot up the joints in two separate attacks. A bouncer and club patron at Great Alaskan Bush Company, 2900 Northwest Grand Avenue, were killed in Sunday night’s attack by an as-of-yet unnamed suspect,…
It wasn’t a very happy holidays for the Phoenix Suns, who suffered abundantly during Christmas week because of their always shoddy defense and sleigh-loads of missed opportunities. Indeed, Santa must’ve had the Suns marked on his “naughty” list, as Jolly Ol’ Saint Nick delivered three straight losses to Planet Orange, including yesterday’s defeat by fantastic…
I live in a moderately fancy-ass suburb of Dallas, am super-white, and make decent money. Naturally, I have a Mexican gardener/lawn dude who works his ass off, has 14 brothers and sisters in Guanajuato, employs all his relatives, etc. He also has a sweet wife and three little boys. He…
WINGNUT WATCH If you follow Phoenix politics, then you are familiar with the activities of a Washington, D.C.-based group called Judicial Watch, which seems to be suing half the city at any given moment — notably, the half that doesn’t agree with it. But more on that in a sec…
JAIL HELL Addicts deserve humane care, too: This is just awful! Just because you are in jail doesn’t mean you don’t deserve medical treatment and [you should be] ignored. And being a drug addict doesn’t make you a criminal — it is a sickness (“What’s Mom Worth?” Michael Lacey, December…
Editor’s note: Eight months ago, in part as a response to Arizona’s enactment of a law requiring its police to ask anyone they think might be here illegally (read: Mexicans) to produce proof of legal status, Village Voice Media embarked on an extensive national immigration project. It tasked VVM papers…
State Senate President-elect Russell Pearce’s son Joshua Trent Pearce recently was under investigation by the Mesa Police Department for allegations of possible child abuse. Mesa PD spokesman, Sergeant Ed Wessing, confirmed that police responded to a call December 10 from Banner Desert Medical Center regarding a nine day-old baby girl, the daughter…
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:…
Despite the efforts of anti-Arizonans like Congressman Raul Grivalva, a boycott against the state this year appears to have failed miserably. Grivalva was among the critics of Arizona’s harsh immigration law, SB1070, who called for the boycott. City councils across the country passed toothless resolutions in favor of boycotting the Grand Canyon State,…
Many neighborhood leaders and homeowners are sorely disappointed with a City Council decision that stripped building restrictions from Camel Square, a 17-acre site on the northwest corner of Camelback Road and 44th Street.And now area residents are floating the idea of filing a referendum, a process in which residents gather…
Following our earlier post about Christopher Smith, the former chief of staff for the state Senate found shot to death Saturday, his family contacted New Times and asks that we share with our readers a letter written by Smith’s sister.Phoenix police won’t say whether Smith’s death was drug related. However,…
A pair of Phoenix brothers are feelin’ the heat after the two burned a house owned by one of the men to the ground.Rodger Moffett, a convicted sex offender who’s been off the state’s radar for nearly 15 years, faces arson charges similar to those his brother, Robert Moffett, will…
