September 2011 Archives

Sheriff Joe Arpaio is planning his 20th immigration raid on the heels of the recent arrest of an alleged undocumented immigrant in the hit-and-run of Michael Pollack's son, reports the Phoenix Business Journal.

Pollack's son, Daniel, was killed in a hit-and-run earlier this month. Scottsdale officers eventually arrested Cristino Torres-Romero for the felony of leaving the scene of an accident. It was also alleged that Torres-Romero was illegally working in the United States using false identification. However, under the criminal justice system, Torres-Romero is innocent until proven guilty of either crime.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer was given a four-count indictment on Monday by a federal grand jury on drug smuggling charges, reports the TucsonSentinel.com.

Border Patrol officer Luis Carlos Vasquez is accused of allowing five people to bring marijuana across the border while he manned the inspection line at the Douglas Port of Entry. His alleged accomplices include Douglas residents Victor Stuppi, Jesus Antonio Chavez Bustamante and Karla Beatriz Prieto. Two other accomplices are reportedly from Mexico.

Police have arrested a Tempe man in connection with the fatal hit-and-run of prominent real estate CEO Michael Pollack’s son, Daniel Pollack, reports The Arizona Republic.

Thirty-three-year-old Cristino Torres-Romero was arrested on Friday after an anonymous tip was delivered to the Scottsdale Police Department on Tuesday. While following up on the tip, authorities discovered a Ford 150 truck parked outside his house which damages consistent with a hit-and-run. He was booked into the Scottsdale City Jail on suspicion of leaving the scene of a fatal collision.

Yavapi County Sheriff’s officers arrested two men on suspicion of first-degree murder after the burned body of a 19-year-old was found near Prescott, reports The Arizona Republic.

Twenty-year-old Robert Hinderliter and twenty-seven-year-old Joseph Parsons were booked into Camp Verde Detention Center for the brutal death of Clifford Williamson. The victim’s severely burned body was found south of Prescott by a camper and has been the subject of an intense investigation since it was discovered on Saturday. Authorities believe that the homicide occurred at the same location that the body was found.

Anthem physician Dr. Peter Normann was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Tuesday for the plastic surgery deaths of three of his patients, reports The Arizona Republic.

A jury found the plastic surgeon guilty of second-degree murder in the deaths of two of his patients and decided he committed manslaughter in the third death.

A second-degree murder charge typically focuses on the state of mind of the alleged killer. The jury does not have to find that the defendant had a plan to kill his victim. Rather, in Normann's case, the killing shows a "depraved indifference" to human life.

The two Malboeuf cousins have been formally charged with five offenses by a federal court on Monday for their part in starting the Arizona Wallow Fire, reports the Associated Press.

Caleb Joshua Malboeuf of Benson and David Wayne Malboeuf of Tucson are officially banned from national forest land and will go to trial on federal misdemeanor charges since the crimes occurred in a National State Park.

A woman ironically called in a false airline bomb threat to the Tucson International Airport to prevent her mother and brother from boarding a flight from Tucson to New York near the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, reports the Associated Press.

Mary Purcell of Lake Ronkonkoma, New York reportedly phoned the Tucson airport twice on Saturday morning to tell employees that her boyfriend was planning a bomb plot on the Southwest Airlines flight. Airport security had to remove and search all of the luggage on the plane, as well as re-screen all of the passengers. Her desperate efforts ended with her arrest by FBI agents on Monday, while both passengers made it safely to New York.

A Phoenix woman faces serious criminal charges after she slit her ex-boyfriend's throat in front of her three children, reports azfamily.com. In an ironic twist, the victim was assisted by another ex-boyfriend of the woman.

Daytona Johnson is currently under arrest after she allegedly cut ex-boyfriend, Chad Grubbs, above his throat with a meat cleaver on Friday afternoon. She faces charges of attempted second-degree murder, assault causing serious physical injury, reckless injury, intent to commit assault, vulnerable adult abuse and three counts of child abuse. Any of these charges could get her serious punishments, including loss of custody of her children.

The son of real estate investor Michael Pollack fell victim to a fatal hit-and-run early Sunday morning, and police are asking for any information on the perpetrator, reports ABC15 News.

Daniel Pollack was reportedly standing in a striped median lane near Thomas Road in Scottsdale at 1:30 a.m. when he was fatally hit by a silver pickup truck, according to witnesses. The vehicle didn't stop after striking the 31-year-old. Daniel was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Two Walmart workers reportedly robbed their store early Thursday morning to pay for a sex-change operation and a new car, reports The Daily Courier.

Twenty-three-year old Spencer Danger Cullen and nineteen-year-old Adriano Valdes Altiveros III were arrested on Friday on suspicion of stealing $45,000 from the Prescott Walmart.

Prescott police claim Altiveros admitted to stealing the cash to buy a new car, and Cullen told police she stole the money for a sex-change operation, Prescott Police Department spokesman Lt. Andy Reinhardt told The Courier.

Could the Phoenix Goddess Temple be a front for a prostitution house? Phoenix police detained 16 people connected with the unusual temple that purportedly incorporates sexual acts with its religious practices, reports The Arizona Republic.

Although charges have not yet been announced against those detained, it is likely that police questioning is connected to allegations that the temple is a front for prostitution. The search warrant was issued on Wednesday, and police have questioned five men and 11 women thus far.

Several would-be criminals apparently tried to take advantage of the Labor Day weekend as reports of multiple home invasions come in from cities across the Valley.

Five suspects were arrested for a Glendale home invasion Saturday night that resulted in the death of one man, reports ABC 15 News. Nineteen-year-old Tyler Moreira was allegedly shot and killed in his home during an attempted robbery by Jonathan Dorsey, Lequai Green and Bebeshuree Macias. Two juveniles were also arrested in connected with the crime. The suspects reportedly charged into the home after Green posed as a woman trying to trade stereo equipment.

The death of a Laveen man's beloved puppy during a cockfighting raid has landed Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and action-star-turned-crime-fighter Steven Seagal in legal hot water, reports The Arizona Republic.

Jesus Sanchez Llovera filed a notice of claim, which signals the beginning of a lawsuit, with Maricopa County taxpayers for $25,000 and a public apology from the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and Seagal for the death of his beloved family pet. Llovera claims he suffered humiliation, emotional distress and property damage from their high-profile cockfighting raid of his home in March.