If Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas runs for state Attorney General, as he plans to, he’ll have to resign from his post sometime this year. But if he resigns, the Board of Supervisors — his political enemies — would get to choose a successor. Thomas doesn’t want them to make that…
A pizza delivery man was attacked for his pies early Saturday morning, but the suspected thieves didn’t make as clean a getaway as they had hoped — the idiots left a Hansel-and-Gretel-like trail of pizza and chicken wing sauce right to their front door.About 4 a.m. Saturday, two men lured the…
Robert Troutt’s future as a poster boy for the evils of meth addiction now seems assured. As we reported last month, Phoenix police accuse Troutt (pictured) of beating his 85-year-old mother, Eva Fitzgerald, while he was in a drug-induced haze. Troutt, 55, admitted to police that he recalled standing over his…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio will leave the Wells Fargo building in downtown Phoenix if doing so will save taxpayers’ money, according to a statement released today. The Board of Supervisors, though, which Arpaio has accused of engaging in a criminal conspiracy against him, may have the final word on whether…
We just returned from the Arizona Court of Appeals, where a three-judge panel heard arguments in the curious contempt case of Adam Stoddard. Readers surely remember the unprecedented (as far as we can tell) case — about a sheriff’s detention officer who got into a pickle last October after…
Oral arguments took place February 4 regarding a sanctions motion from the plaintiffs in the big Melendres vs. Arpaio racial profiling lawsuit now underway. I had to be out of town on an assignment, and so could not attend the verbal donnybrook, but I did obtain a transcript of the proceedings,…
Police in San Antonio, Texas, today began searching a landfill, where they think the remains of missing Gabriel Johnson, the Tempe boy missing since December, may be. A couple of weeks ago, police cordoned off a 45-foot section of the landfill. They believe garbage will be found in the section that…
Legally challenged rapper Lil Wayne was expected to turn himself in to authorities tomorrow to begin a year-long jail sentence for gun charges in New York. Weezy’s sentencing has been delayed, however, so the rapper can undergo dental surgery. Before learning that his sentencing would be delayed, Weezy had time…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio sent a letter to his supporters recently, urging them to give the “liberal” John McCain the boot and vote for McCain’s probable primary opponent, extreme-right-wing radio host and former Congressman J.D. Hayworth.It seems “the Maverick” isn’t conservative enough for America’s self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff,” and he’s throwin’ his support…
Today, numerous local news outlets reported that convicted child rapist Adrian Cruz, who escaped from the less-than-competent MSCO at the Maricopa County Courthouse last year, had been arrested in Mexico. But before officials could even hold a press conference celebrating this supposed arrest, it turned out that officials in Mexico…
The Waste Management Open is just around the corner, and promoters of the trashy tourney are offering free tickets to members of the military, firemen, and cops.The tournament’s festivities begin on February 22, and Waste Management and the Thunderbirds charities are inviting the folks in uniform (and one guest each) to attend…
An hour of work this morning produced only scant information about the talks to move Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s headquarters out of the Wells Fargo building in downtown Phoenix.Cari Gerchick, spokeswoman for Maricopa County, tells us that Wells Fargo is not exactly evicting the Sheriff’s Office from the 18th and 19th…
The man suspected of animal cruelty for leaving his 23 dogs alone at his home for nearly two weeks with no food or water says Pima Animal Control Center’s putting 19 of the dogs out of their misery is “messed up.”Yesterday, we posted a story about 34-year-old Raymond Quintero and his…
A 3-year-old Pinal County boy is still in critical condition after shooting himself in the head with a gun he found in his grandmother’s San Tan Valley home.According to police, on Friday night, the boy’s grandmother, who lives in a rural section of the county, got scared when her dogs started…
Adrian Cruz, the convicted child rapist who escaped from the Maricopa County Courthouse last year, was captured yesterday afternoon in Mexico. The U.S. Marshals Service says Mexican authorities contacted it yesterday to say they had Cruz in custody. Now, a Mexican judge must decide whether to deport Cruz back to Arizona…
Wells Fargo informed Maricopa County in a recent letter that it wants the Sheriff’s Office to vacate the office space it has inhabited in the bank’s downtown Phoenix building since 1998.One of our trusted sources read us the letter this evening — we don’t have it yet, but we’ll post it here…
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: Feathered Bastard: Tucson Missionary Robert Park, and What Kim Jong-il and Uncle Sam Have in Common Up…
The prosecutor in the James Ray sweat lodge fiasco has asked a Yavapai County Superior Court judge to issue a gag order for those involved with the case.The move is probably to prevent Ray’s lawyers from polluting a potential jury pool by making the rounds on the talk-show circuit.Ray was…
A Green valley man was arrested yesterday after he left nearly two-dozen of his own dogs to starve in his house about two weeks ago.The Pima County Sheriff’s Office arrested 34-year-old Raymond Quintero after an anonymous tipster called authorities to report that Quintero had disappeared for about two weeks and…
If there is any doubt that Super Bowl ads are worth the hefty price-tag, just ask the folks at Scottsdale-based Go Daddy.com.Go Daddy is known for its edgy ads, where chestically blessed women come to the brink of toplessness before the ad cuts out and a voice advises viewers that if…
A woman who took a 3-year-old neighbor boy to the store and bought him a Tootsie Roll faces a charge of custodial interference after sparking fears of a kidnapping. Cops scoured the streets near 32nd Street and Indian School for more than a half an hour on Friday evening,…
Phoenix fire Captain Willie Nelson, a dogged sleuth who knows how to tell arson from accidental, has been named the department’s top investigator for 2009. Nelson (alas, no relation to the famous country crooner pictured in this long-ago photo) has been with Phoenix Fire since 1986 and a captain since 2004. He also is…
