December 2010 Archives

The daughter of Maricopa County Supervisor Fulton Brock and criminal suspect Susan Brock has been arrested in connection with a teen sex case. The 21-year-old woman allegedly committed numerous acts of sexual conduct with a minor and at least one count of furnishing harmful items to a minor, according to ABC News.

It looks like the daughter, Rachel Katherine Brock, might have legal troubles coming her way. Her mother, Susan Brock, 48, was arrested in October for having an inappropriate relationship with a 15-year-old minor. It looks like the two Brocks will need their own Phoenix criminal lawyer in each sex scandal case. Meanwhile, Supervisor Fulton Brock has filed for a divorce from his wife after 28 years of marriage. He says that he can't divorce his daughter and that while he is devastated by the incident, he will continue to be a father for her.

A 33-year-old resident of Phoenix is being held at the 4th Avenue Jail without bond after being booked on suspicion of four counts of sexual conduct with a minor, one count of molestation of a child, one count of sexual abuse, and one count of public sexual indecency, according to the Arizona Republic. The suspect Luis Mejia Ortiz was arrested after allegedly inappropriately touching the daughters of his girlfriend.

The Great Alaskan Bush Company and ChiChi's Cabaret, two strip clubs in the city of Phoenix, were locations of shootings over the holiday weekend. Many people in Phoenix are now wondering if this is a new trend in the Valley or if the shootings were just a one-weekend occurrence.

The Phoenix New Times reports that police are saying that 28-year-old Gavin MacFarlane opened fire on Sunday at Great Alaskan Bush Company, located at 2900 Northwest Grand Avenue. Two people in the club died after being shot by the suspect, including a bouncer named Adam Troy Cooley and a club patron named Antonio Garcia. Other people in the strip club were reportedly injured after being hit with bullets, including a topless dancer that was shot in the arm.

A Phoenix man was arrested last week for allegedly stalking a 16-year-old girl who attends Saguaro High School in Scottsdale. ABC News reports that the teenage girl informed the police resource at the high school about 25-year-old Michael Guthier, who was standing in the parking lot of Saguaro High School when authorities approached him.

Michael Guthier's defense was that he and the victim had been in an Internet and cell phone relationship for six months. He reportedly told the victim that he was coming to her school so that he could meet up with her. This isn't considered a valid legal defense for stalking, so he'll probably want to have a Phoenix criminal lawyer to defend him in court if he is formally charged with a crime.

The synthetic marijuana-type drug Spice, also known as K2, has gained widespread media attention in the East Valley. We reported in an earlier blog post that Tempe Union High School District was cracking down on the usage of this legal drug on their campuses. However, it looks like the Tempe school district isn't the only district that is trying to stop high school students from smoking this substance.

The Arizona Republic now reports that The Higley Unified School District in Gilbert is starting their own campaign against the Spice drug. The Spice substance is currently legal, but the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will ban five chemicals commonly found in the synthetic marijuana on December 24. Experts believe that a new synthetic marijuana is likely to be made that once again consists of only legal chemicals.

A 15-year-old boy that allegedly shot and killed his 14-year-old friend Juan Vergara in a Surprise home has been charged with negligent homicide, according to the Arizona Republic. The Maricopa County District Attorney's Office has asked that the boy's case be taken to adult court, but Judge Dawn Bergin ruled the young boy's case will remain in Maricopa County Juvenile Court.

The shooting took place last September when the teenage suspect was waving a gun in front of two other boys. The boy apparently thought that the gun was not loaded and pulled the trigger, shooting Juan Vergara in the head.

The Phoenix New Times reports that Joseluis Marquez is now being held on $1 million bail for allegedly grabbing Kyleigh Sousa's purse and driving off with the woman still grabbing onto her bag, as she was tangled in her purse straps. She was dragged for 30 feet by the vehicle and later died in a Valley hospital from the injuries that she sustained.

Joseluis Marquez (the driver of the vehicle) was arrested last week on suspicion of first-degree murder over the incident, but the case is still under review to determine if there's enough evidence to charge the man with the severe offense of first-degree murder. Other passengers were reportedly in the car with Joseluis Marquez at the time of the incident last May, but so far the passengers have not been charged with a crime.

The woman that was named Miss Pima County in 2005 and Miss Desert Sun in 2006 will now be spending time behind bars for conspiracy to commit kidnapping and aggravated assault convictions. Associated Press reports that the 28-year-old beauty queen Kumari Fulbright was first arrested for the crimes in December 2007 and that her criminal case has finally come to a close three years later.

Last week, a Pima County judge reportedly sentenced the Miss Arizona model to two years in prison and six years of probation for the offenses. Kumari Fulbright had been accused of torturing her ex-boyfriend by tying him up and keeping him captive for eight to ten hours. The alleged victim also claimed that he was robbed and tortured before he was able to escape.

Elizabeth Johnson has been charged with kidnapping, child abuse, and custodial interference in Arizona after allegedly taking her 8-month-old son Gabriel away from the child's father and killing the baby in Texas. KPHO reports that the mother was supposed to appear in a Phoenix courtroom yesterday for a status hearing on the case, but that Elizabeth Johnson didn't show up for the hearing.

This criminal case involving the alleged killing of baby Gabriel has received a great amount of publicity in the Phoenix metro area, because the mother reportedly confessed to the killing of her son to a detective while she was in jail. However, the confession came during an unauthorized meeting between Elizabeth Johnson and San Antonio Detective John Salame, in which the defendant's Phoenix criminal lawyer claims that he was unaware of the meeting.

A synthetic drug that is often sold legally as incense is at the center of debate in a Tempe school district and across the state. The Arizona Republic reports that this synthetic substance called Spice or K2 provides a similar high to marijuana when it is smoked. Some people say that the high feeling is even more intense than that of the illegal marijuana drug.

Tempe Union High School District is apparently cracking down on students that use Spice. At a recent parent meeting, Associate Superintendent Greg Wyman announced that students who possess or distribute Spice will be suspended for 10 or more days. He says that there have so far been less than a dozen Spice incidents in the district.

The deaths of Mellissa Mason and Nichole Glass are still a mystery, as no suspect information is available in the homicide case and no information has been released on how the two women were killed. The Arizona Republic reports that the two women were found last week in their east Phoenix home in the 4200 block of East Cambridge Avenue. Authorities say that a friend of the two women called police officers to the scene after she saw the bodies on the living room floor through a window.

Phoenix police officers are now investigating the case as a double homicide. Nichole Glass was reportedly one of several defendants in a recent criminal case and received probation earlier this year. However, there is no evidence that her probation or criminal conviction was at all tied to her death.

During the holiday season, store owners in Phoenix might see an increase in shoplifting crimes. Yet it's important to realize that shoplifting is a serious crime in the state of Arizona, where civil action can also be taken by the merchant in an instance of shoplifting.

Arizona Revised Statute 13-1805 specifically defines the crime of shoplifting in the state. Shoplifting property with a value of two thousand dollars or more is a class 5 felony in Arizona, which is punishable with a maximum of 24 months of imprisonment. If a person shoplifts property that is worth one thousand dollars or more, but less than two thousand dollars, the shoplifter can be convicted of a class 6 felony. A conviction of a class 6 felony is typically punishable with up to 1.5 years in prison.

A Maricopa County Superior Court judge sentenced 27-year-old Joel Delgado to one year in prison and four years of supervised probation after the Phoenix man pleaded guilty to attempt to commit criminal damage and criminal damage. Associated Press reported that Maricopa County prosecutors called Joel Delgado the worst graffiti vandal in Phoenix and said that the man tagged more than 300 sites around the city in a 20-month period.