Posted on: November 19, 2019
Phoenix, Arizona – On Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2019, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voted, pursuant to A.R.S. 11 – 664(B), to have the Maricopa County Attorney conduct an investigation as it relates to the duties of Maricopa Count...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 14, 2019
PHOENIX—Leonard Bacon, Jr. (D.O.B. 2/3/1968) has been sentenced to Life in the Department of Corrections for the 2018 attempted 1st Degree Murder of a Corrections Officer. Bacon admitted to stabbing the officer with the intent to kill him.
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 14, 2019
PHOENIX—Luis Aldana (D.O.B. 1/2/1988) has been convicted on several charges stemming from an incident during which he shot at an Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) Trooper. Charges included Attempted 2nd Degree Murder, Aggravated Assault,...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 8, 2019
PHOENIX— Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office salute those who have served and sacrificed in defense of our freedom.
“I would like to express my deep gratitude for the men and women ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 17, 2019
PHOENIX— Today, newly-appointed Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel announced members of her transition team. The group has been tasked by County Attorney Adel to develop high-level strategic priorities to guide her as she creates a meaningfu...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 11, 2019
PHOENIX— Dion Earl (D.O.B. 03-13-1972) was sentenced today to 12 years in the Department of Corrections after being found guilty by a jury of Sexual Assault, Public Sexual Indecency and two counts each of Kidnapping and Assault.
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 3, 2019
PHOENIX— Wendy Lavarnia (D.O.B. 06-30-1988) was sentenced today to 10.5 years in the Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to Manslaughter and Attempted Child Abuse for the death of her 9-year-old son who was shot in the head while pla...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 19, 2019
PHOENIX— Jarre Edward Bjelic (D.O.B. 09-12-1994) was sentenced today to 4.5 years in the Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to three counts of Theft by Extortion and one count of Attempted Fraud Schemes.
“Today&...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 16, 2019
PHOENIX— Jorge Acosta (D.O.B. 03-17-1973) was recently sentenced to 40 years in the Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to 2nd Degree Murder, Burglary and two counts of Aggravated Assault for breaking into his ex-girlfriend&...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 4, 2019
PHOENIX— This afternoon Governor Doug Ducey announced the appointment of Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery to the Arizona Supreme Court to replace Chief Justice Bales. The Governor noted his selection was a candidate who had an understand...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 22, 2019
PHOENIX— Dion Earl (D.O.B. 03-13-1972) was found guilty by a jury of Sexual Assault, Sexual Abuse, Assault, Public Sexual Indecency and two counts of Kidnapping for his actions involving two victims who he hired as babysitters.
“Today&a...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 16, 2019
PHOENIX— Luis Alberto Madrigal (D.O.B. 10-01-1990) was sentenced today to 20 years in the Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to 2nd Degree Murder for killing his girlfriend, 27-year-old Monique-Antwane Gemino, who was also the mothe...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 25, 2019
PHOENIX— County Attorney Bill Montgomery today signed a contract with Southwest Behavioral Health and Services to provide treatment for certain felony offenders designated as Seriously Mentally Ill (SMI), as a part of MCAO’s Felony Pre...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 22, 2019
PHOENIX— Matthew Moreno (D.O.B. 11-24-1984), a documented member of the notorious MS-13 street gang, was convicted today on both counts charged by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office—Threatening or Intimidating and Assistin...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 18, 2019
PHOENIX— Jose Orellana-Ruiz (D.O.B. 06-19-1989) was sentenced today to 27 years flat in the Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to 2nd Degree Murder for injuring and killing his three-month-old daughter.
“Adrianna Gutierrez ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 12, 2019
PHOENIX— Brittany Zamora (D.O.B. 01-05-1991) was sentenced today to 20 years in the Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to Sexual Conduct with a Minor, Attempted Molestation of a Child and Public Sexual Indecency in connecti...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 11, 2019
PHOENIX— Michael Paul Adams was indicted by Maricopa County Grand Jurors on July 10th on one count of First Degree Murder in the tragic death of a 17-year-old victim at a convenience store on July 4, 2019.
Prosecutors intend to prove that the def...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 10, 2019
PHOENIX— The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has filed a direct complaint charging Michael Paul Adams with First Degree Murder in connection to the murder of a 17-year-old victim on July 4, 2019. Prosecutors intend to prove that the ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 14, 2019
PHOENIX— Joseph John Henn (D.O.B. 03/17/1949) appeared before a judge today for his arraignment hearing on multiple counts of child molestation, attempted child molestation, sexual conduct with a minor, and attempted sexual contact with a minor....
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 10, 2019
PHOENIX— Caleb Bartels (D.O.B. 11-25-1989) was sentenced today to Natural Life plus 15 years in the Department of Corrections after being found guilty of 1st Degree Murder, Aggravated Assault and Burglary.
“This case involved the sensel...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 7, 2019
PHOENIX— Robert Interval (D.O.B. 07-20-1979) was sentenced today to 25 years in the Department of Corrections after being found guilty of Second Degree Murder for the death of his girlfriend 34-year-old Christine Mustafa.
“This defendan...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 4, 2019
PHOENIX— Marc Laquon Payne (D.O.B. 02-03-1972) was sentenced today to 35 years in the Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to three counts of Attempted 1st Degree Murder, four counts of Aggravated Assault, two counts each of Endangerm...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 24, 2019
PHOENIX— Richard Gallegos (D.O.B. 08-29-1964) was sentenced today to 25 years in the Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to two counts of Sexual Conduct with a Minor, one count of Attempted Sexual Conduct with a Minor, and one count ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 24, 2019
PHOENIX— The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has been a leader in the movement of ending a previous backlog of untested sexual assault kits since 2015 and we are close to testing 100% of that backlog.
“This is the culminatio...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 16, 2019
PHOENIX— This summer the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is partnering with the Arizona Humane Society, Phoenix Children’s Hospital and the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety to raise awareness in our community a...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 7, 2019
PHOENIX— Christopher Redondo (D.O.B. 07-24-1974) was sentenced to Life in the Department of Corrections for the 2010 murder of Gilbert Police Lieutenant Eric Shuhandler, which occurred during a traffic stop. Sentencing for additional charges inc...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 29, 2019
PHOENIX- Continuing the successful “Save Lives, Don’t DUI” campaign, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is partnering with ride-sharing service Lyft and Banner Health to offer Cinco de Mayo party-goers an incenti...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 17, 2019
On April 12, 2019, Mari Herreras of the YWCA Southern Arizona sent an open letter to Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery regarding discrimination within his Office.
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery’s response letter (PDF)
Mari Herrera...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 17, 2019
PHOENIX— In light of recent coverage regarding proposed criminal justice legislation and characterizations of the use of prison in resolving cases from Maricopa County, this office looked to the objective case disposition data from the Administr...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 5, 2019
PHOENIX— Justin Allee (D.O.B. 07-09-1984) was sentenced today to 22 years in the Department of Corrections after being found guilty by a jury of child abuse for violently shaking his infant daughter causing significant brain injuries.
“...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 29, 2019
PHOENIX— The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has completed a review of three cases submitted by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office involving the treatment of children at a Southwest Key shelter.
“The video eviden...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 28, 2019
PHOENIX— Joseph Eschief (D.O.B. 09-13-1981) was sentenced recently to seven years in the Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to two counts of Threatening and Intimidating and one count of Participating in a Criminal Street Gang.
&...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 22, 2019
PHOENIX— Travis Ricci (D.O.B. 09-03-1981) has received the sentence of Natural Life in Prison for the murder of 39-year-old Kelly Ann Jaeger in 2009. A jury found Ricci guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated assault, attempt to commit first-d...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 22, 2019
PHOENIX— Michael Crane (D.O.B. 06-09-1980) was sentenced today to three consecutive Natural Life terms and several additional years in the Department of Corrections for multiple charges including three counts of 1st Degree murder.
“Mich...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 22, 2019
PHOENIX— Dennis Pitman (D.O.B. 08-03-1947) was sentenced today to 96 years in the Department of Corrections after being found guilty by a jury of 17 counts of Molestation of a Child and five counts of Sexual Conduct with a Minor.
“Today...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 22, 2019
PHOENIX— Joseph Palmisano (D.O.B. 10-13-1964) was sentenced today to five years in the Department of Corrections followed by five years of probation after pleading guilty to Aggravated Assault and Kidnapping.
“Today’s sentenci...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 11, 2019
PHOENIX- Continuing the successful campaign “Save Lives, Don’t DUI” the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is partnering with ride-sharing service Lyft to offer St. Patrick’s Day revelers an incentive not t...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 25, 2019
PHOENIX— During the recently concluded Winter Institute for Public Safety and Behavioral Health Conference hosted by Arizona State University at Skysong, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery was presented with the Innovative Leader Award. Th...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 13, 2019
PHOENIX— Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has sent materials to the Phoenix Office of the FBI in connection to the 2017 incident involving Glendale Police Officers and Mr. Wheatcroft.
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery commented ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 9, 2019
PHOENIX— Jesus Ceja (D.O.B. 10-24-1962) was sentenced today to six years in the Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to Aggravated Driving While Under the Influence. This is the first time a case was prosecuted under HB2243, the Arizo...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 21, 2018
PHOENIX— Jadyn Curtis (D.O.B. 06-03-1996) was sentenced today to natural life in the Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to 1st Degree Murder. Curtis also received a consecutive life sentence for Sexual Assault, and consecutive 21-ye...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 3, 2018
PHOENIX- By the beginning of December, calendars are already filling up with holiday parties and New Year celebration plans. That is why the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, in partnership with Lyft and Banner Health, is promoting the &ldq...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 30, 2018
PHOENIX— Aaron Ott (D.O.B. 01-07-1997) was sentenced today to 27 years in the Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to Armed Robbery and 2nd Degree Murder of 16-year-old Miguel Navarro who met the defendant to sell an Xbox.
“T...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 30, 2018
PHOENIX—Josef Dixon (D.O.B. 04-01-1990) was sentenced today to 190 years in the Department of Corrections after being found guilty of 14 counts of child prostitution and one count of drug possession.
“Today's sentencing should serve as ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 30, 2018
PHOENIX—Francisco Nieblas Rodriguez (D.O.B. 03-15-1988) was sentenced today to 33 years in the Department of Corrections after being found guilty of seven counts of Armed Robbery, two counts of Attempted Armed Robbery, seven counts of Kidnapping...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 28, 2018
PHOENIX— Jason Lindsey (D.O.B. 1-20-1997) was found guilty today by a jury on the charges of 1st Degree Murder, Drive By Shooting and three counts of Aggravated Assault all related to him firing a gun from the passenger side window at another ca...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 26, 2018
PHOENIX— Gabriel Tovar (D.O.B. 06-11-1972) was sentenced today to 12 years in the Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to one count of Fraudulent Schemes and Artifices. The defendant was responsible for eight different burglaries wher...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 6, 2018
PHOENIX— Christopher Rivera (D.O.B. 09-27-1999) was sentenced today to two years of probation after pleading guilty to one felony count of Interfering with or Disruption of an Educational Institution. This is in connection to a threatening socia...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 1, 2018
PHOENIX— Bryant Ozorio (D.O.B. 12-20-1987) was found guilty in absentia by a jury for 10 counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, a Dangerous Crime Against Children on October 23, 2018. Ozorio was facing a minimum sentence of 100 years in the D...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 23, 2018
PHOENIX— Francisco Covarrubias (D.O.B. 08-12-1985) was sentenced today to 35 years in the Department of Corrections and lifetime probation upon release, after pleading guilty to three counts of attempted child abuse and two counts of kidnapping....
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 12, 2018
Kimery Jorg (D.O.B. 05-16-1960) was sentenced today to 20 years in the Department of Corrections with lifetime probation upon release after pleading guilty to four counts of child abuse involving her adopted daughters the day before her trial was set to b...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 5, 2018
PHOENIX— Today Lashawn Johnson (D.O.B. 06/05/1990) was sentenced to Natural Life for 1st Degree Premeditated Murder, Theft of Means of Transportation, Arson, and Abandonment or Concealment of a Dead Body.
“Lashawn Johnson’s ef...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 2, 2018
PHOENIX— Eric Craig (D.O.B. 10-04-1969) pled guilty to one count of Pandering and two counts of Money Laundering and was sentenced to 7.5 years in the Department of Corrections with five years of probation following his release. The case against...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 25, 2018
PHOENIX— Maricopa County Attorney’s Office Division Chief for the Special Victims Division, Rachel Mitchell has been selected to assist in the Judge Kavanaugh confirmation hearing. Division Chief Mitchell’s area of responsibi...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 24, 2018
PHOENIX— The FBI’s 2017 Uniform Crime Report (UCR) for Arizona was released today and reflects an overall 1.4% drop in crime in the state. While crime is down overall in Arizona for the sixth year in a row, the new report ind...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 10, 2018
PHOENIX— Christopher Brown (D.O.B. 08-24-1976) was sentenced today to 14 years in the Department of Corrections for Sex Trafficking, Receiving Earnings of a Prostitute, Pandering, and Assault. Brown was arrested as a part of a January 2018 operation by th...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 21, 2018
PHOENIX— Recently, Albert De La Torre (D.O.B. 01/26/1978) was charged with four counts of 3rd Degree Burglary and one count of Attempted 3rd Degree Burglary in connection with a series of ATM burglaries across the West Valley.
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 17, 2018
PHOENIX— The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has completed a review of a use of force incident involving Mesa Police Department Officers Glover and Santiago and an armed robbery suspect that occurred on May 16, 2018. The incident was...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 10, 2018
PHOENIX— The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is informing the community about a recent article put out by the Associated Press office in Phoenix in reference to the recent ruling on prosecutorial immunity preventing depositions in a ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 1, 2018
PHOENIX— There is only one month left in this year’s “Don’t Leave Me Behind” vehicular heatstroke awareness campaign, but the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is asking for renewed commitment in...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 19, 2018
PHOENIX— In light of recent media coverage, initiated by a spurious article from the Southern Poverty Law Center, on the case of Tahnee Gonzalez and Elizabeth Dauenhauer, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery and Tempe Islamic Community Cente...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 19, 2018
“To assert that this case is being handled in an unusual or unprofessional manner is irresponsible, at best.
I was involved in the case of the juveniles who vandalized a menorah, and facilitated their restitution and apology to the victims. I was...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 16, 2018
PHOENIX—Due to recent litigation in federal court on the issue of ballot harvesting—and with primary and general elections upcoming—Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery issued the following statement on the state&rsqu...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 13, 2018
PHOENIX—Stanley Ray Chu (D.O.B. 05/11/1985) was sentenced to 15.5 years in the Department of Corrections for Manslaughter, Aggravated Assault and Leaving the Scene of a Fatal Accident in connection to a DUI crash.
“Today’s sen...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 13, 2018
PHOENIX— Today Madeline Jones (D.O.B. 11/18/1997) was sentenced to three years of supervised probation for Custodial Interference. Her parents, Cassandra Jones and Roland Jones were also sentenced to three years of supervised probation for Consp...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 13, 2018
PHOENIX—Kevin Richard Hevel (D.O.B. 10/22/1986) was sentenced to 16 years in the Department of Corrections for 2nd Degree Murder in connection with a fatal DUI crash.
“There is absolutely no excuse for someone to drive impaired and risk...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 3, 2018
PHOENIX— The MCAO family is remembering the important work of the Office’s first victim support dog, Sam, in light of his passing last week. Sam officially retired from the Office in July of 2016 and has been enjoying his retirement an...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 19, 2018
PHOENIX— Today Marlow Chiquito (D.O.B. 11/26/1985) was sentenced to the Department of Corrections for 25 years flat for 2nd Degree Murder and 10.5 years for kidnapping in connection to the murder of Maggie Chiquito.
“Today’s sentencing is the result of the...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 15, 2018
PHOENIX—Holly Davis (D.O.B. 10/20/1983) was sentenced to a mandatory 25 years in the Department of Corrections for 2nd Degree Murder in the death of 19-year-old Yue Jiang.
“This sentence is the maximum penalty for 2nd Degree Murder and ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 21, 2018
PHOENIX— Dwandarrius Robinson (D.O.B. 12/20/1990) was sentenced to Death after being found guilty by a jury of two counts of 1st Degree Murder and one count of Arson of an Occupied Structure and one count of Kidnapping in connection to the 2012 ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 11, 2018
PHOENIX— Today Charles Lewis Lott III (D.O.B. 11/15/1996) was sentenced to 20 years in the Department of Corrections for 2nd Degree Murder in connection to the murder of Allen Price Jr.
“Today’s sentence underscores that the u...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 2, 2018
PHOENIX— This year, the “Don’t Leave Me Behind” vehicular heatstroke awareness campaign is kicking off with new partners to help spread this important safety message. Working together with the Arizona Humane Society, Phoenix Children’s Hospital and Pengui...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 1, 2018
PHOENIX- Following on the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office creation of a new Diversion Program Bureau, the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) has announced its selection of MCAO to participate in its Prosecutor-Led Diversion Initiative. This initiat...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 1, 2018
PHOENIX- Continuing the successful “Save Lives, Don’t DUI” campaign, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is partnering with ride-sharing service Lyft to offer Cinco de Mayo party goers an incentive to not drink an...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 19, 2018
PHOENIX—Alvin Rex Smith (D.O.B. 07/26/1985) was sentenced to 191 years in the Department of Corrections for three counts of Sex Trafficking, nine counts of Child Prostitution, four counts of Sexual Conduct with a Minor and three counts of Using ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 9, 2018
PHOENIX- On April 9, 2018 the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office implemented a newly created Diversion Programs Bureau that will be tasked with administering and monitoring diversion programs as part of the Office’s focus on prosecution...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 5, 2018
PHOENIX— At the end of February and again at the end of March, multiple defendants were charged in incidents involving the sale of fake Oxycodone pills containing deadly amounts of Fentanyl.
“If law enforcement had not been vigilant in ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 20, 2018
PHOENIX— Today Leroy Christopher Orbeck (D.O.B. 06/21/1995) was sentenced to 25 years in the Department of Corrections for Attempted 2nd Degree Murder, Sex Trafficking, Child Prostitution, Attempted Sexual Assault, and Aggravated Assault.
&ld...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 19, 2018
PHOENIX— Jeffrey Mathis (D.O.B. 10/04/1985) was sentenced to Life in Prison with the possibility of release after 25 years for 1st Degree Murder and 15 years for Attempted 1st Degree Murder. He was also sentenced to 15 years for Drive ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 12, 2018
PHOENIX- Continuing the successful campaign “Save Lives, Don’t DUI” the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is partnering with ride-sharing service Lyft to offer St. Patrick’s Day revelers an incentive not t...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 6, 2018
PHOENIX— On March 6, 2018 Javier Romero (D.O.B. 12/21/1990) was found guilty by a jury of 2nd Degree Murder in connection to the 2013 stabbing death of 26-year-old Miguel “Mike” Hernandez and one count of aggravated assault o...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 23, 2018
PHOENIX— On February 14, 2018 Jesus Busso-Estopellan (D.O.B. 12/24/1989) was found guilty by a jury of two counts of 1st Degree Murder and one count of Misconduct Involving Weapons in connection to the 2011 shooting of 18-year-old Tyler Webster ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 26, 2018
PHOENIX— Today Judith Walthers (D.O.B. 05/26/1993) was sentenced to Life in Prison for First Degree Murder, in addition to four years for Theft of Means of Transportation and two years for Second Degree Escape all connected to the death of 54-ye...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 19, 2018
PHOENIX— Today Jose Ubaldo Rubio Figueroa (D.O.B. 06/07/1964) was sentenced to 25 years in the Department of Corrections for Second Degree Murder for the death of 48-year-old Maria Rivera.
“While nothing can change the grief felt by the...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 11, 2018
PHOENIX— Today Decarlos Jones (D.O.B. 08/07/1988) was sentenced to a 90 day jail sentence followed by three years of supervised probation with domestic violence and animal cruelty terms for the torture and decapitation of his and his girlfriend&...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 20, 2017
PHOENIX— Today Adrian Harvey (D.O.B. 03/10/1971) was sentenced to 20 years for the Second Degree Murder Conviction of 32-year-old Dawn Subia.
“Today’s sentencing demonstrates our Office’s resolve to hold the defendan...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 18, 2017
PHOENIX— A Maricopa County Grand Jury has delivered an indictment charging Michael Paladino (D.O.B. 04/07/1989) with six counts of Sexual Assault related to cases from 2003 through 2006.
“We now have the necessary investigative findings...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 15, 2017
PHOENIX— Today Juan Zermeno (D.O.B. 06/21/1975) was sentenced to Natural Life for First Degree Murder, with an additional 14 years in the Department of Corrections for Burglary and Trafficking Stolen Property.
“Nothing can change the su...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 12, 2017
PHOENIX— Today James Koryor (D.O.B. 02/10/1974) was found guilty of negligent homicide and child abuse in connection to the death of his 2-year-old son.
“This case involves the senseless death of a young innocent victim, whose life was cut short by the car...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 7, 2017
PHOENIX— Philip Mitchell Brailsford was found not guilty of Second Degree Murder, nor a lesser charge, in relation to the fatal shooting of a suspect during a January 2016 incident at a Mesa hotel.
“This case did not and does not repres...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 4, 2017
PHOENIX- Calendars are already filling up with holiday parties and New Year celebration plans, that is why this year the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is kicking off its “Save Lives, Don’t DUI” campaign earlier ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 16, 2017
PHOENIX—John Allen (D.O.B. 07/19/1988) has received the sentence of death for the murder of his family member, 10-year-old Ame Deal. He was found guilty of 1st degree murder, three counts of child abuse and conspiracy to commit child abuse earli...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 13, 2017
PHOENIX— Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery is in Washington D.C. for the 50-State Summit on Public Safety. The first of its kind summit is an invite-only gathering of lawmakers, corrections administrators, law enforcement officials, and b...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 3, 2017
PHOENIX— The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office was recently awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) through its Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Grant Program for their ongoing in...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 17, 2017
PHOENIX— Today Raymond Hanley (D.O.B. 1/27/1953) received a Life Sentence plus 10.5 years, for 1st Degree Murder and Arson in connection to the death of 40-year-old Debra Kay Shipton who was found brutally bound and killed inside her Mesa apartm...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 25, 2017
PHOENIX— Today the FBI released its 2016 Uniform Crime Report data for Arizona. The report basically reflects the same overall crime rate as last year, given the overall drop in property crime offsetting the increase in each Part I violent offen...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 22, 2017
DNA Helps Detectives Solve 35-Year-Old Cold Case
PHOENIX— Today Larry Lee Robinson (D.O.B. 10/10/1959) was sentenced to 21 years in the Department of Corrections, for 2nd Degree Murder in connection to the death of 83-year-old Sally Bryant who wa...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 20, 2017
PHOENIX— Today Phoeteama Neal (D.O.B. 02/10/1986) was sentenced to Natural Life for 1st Degree Murder. Neal pled guilty on January 17th to the murder involving the intentional drowning of her 20-month old daughter Victoria.
“Today&r...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 15, 2017
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery released the following statement in response to the United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denial of the Office’s Motion for Reconsideration in a civil lawsuit filed by Manuela Villa involving wiretapping pra...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 1, 2017
PHOENIX— Today Brian Woolsey (D.O.B. 06/07/1970) was sentenced to 12 years in the Department of Corrections, followed by lifetime supervised probation with sex offender conditions for four counts of sexual conduct with a minor, which occurred wh...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 31, 2017
PHOENIX—The Arizona Supreme Court’s ruling has upheld the Court of Appeals opinion in State v. Martinson, the case of a father accused of killing his five-year-old son in 2004, allowing the County Attorney’s Office to resume ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 28, 2017
PHOENIX— On August 25th Tiffany Fajardo (D.O.B. 04/02/1997) was sentenced to 30 days in jail and three years of probation for Cruelty to Animals. The defendant was paid to care for a family’s six pets, but did not feed or care for the ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 28, 2017
PHOENIX— Last week Andrew Ward (D.O.B. 01/19/1987) plead guilty to two counts of 1st Degree Murder in two separate cases, one involving the death of his 12-year-old half-brother and Douglas Walker, his 33-year-old jail cellmate. Documentation su...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 23, 2017
“Coverage of the actions of the different groups engaged in the activities last night in our Downtown area make clear that the Phoenix Police Department exercised appropriate restraint and resolve in controlling a d...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 17, 2017
PHOENIX— This week three teens involved in damaging a large ornamental menorah displayed outside a home in Chandler during Hanukah in 2016 pled guilty to criminal damage. The plea given to the teens was reached in agreement with the victims and ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 7, 2017
PHOENIX—Sammantha Allen (D.O.B. 06/14/1988) has received the sentence of death for the murder of her cousin 10-year-old Ame Deal.
“I want to thank the members of the jury for their time and effort on this case and reaching a d...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 31, 2017
PHOENIX— The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has completed a review of a case submitted by the Phoenix Police Department involving the hiking death of a 12-year old Cody Flom back on July 22, 2016 and shared the analysis of the case ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 28, 2017
PHOENIX— The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has completed a review of a case submitted by the Phoenix Police Department that led to the evacuation of the Sky Harbor Airport earlier this month.
“After thoroughly reviewing th...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 7, 2017
PHOENIX— Today Jose Palacios-Ronquill (D.O.B. 05/19/1979) was sentenced to 30 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for three counts of sexual assault, followed by lifetime supervised probation with sex offender conditions for...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 30, 2017
PHOENIX— Today Donald Linville (D.O.B. 08/07/1989) was sentenced to 121.25 years in the Department of Corrections for two counts of surreptitious videotaping, one count of sexual conduct with a minor and 11 counts of sexual exploitation of a min...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 21, 2017
PHOENIX—Alan Champagne (D.O.B. 09/07/1970) was found guilty of first degree murder, second degree murder, kidnapping and two counts of abandonment/concealment of a body in connection with the deaths of 32-year-old Philmon Tapaha and 26-year-old Brandi Hof...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 8, 2017
PHOENIX—Allen Scott Johnson (D.O.B. 04/05/1963) was sentenced today to five years in the Arizona Department of Corrections, followed by lifetime supervised probation with sex offender conditions for three counts of attempted sexual conduct with ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 2, 2017
PHOENIX— Today Dillon Archuleta (D.O.B. 01/11/1995) was sentenced to 13 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for second degree murder.
“Today’s sentencing holds this defendant accountable for his actions and the young life he cut short, however n...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 1, 2017
PHOENIX— Starting on June 1st the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is transitioning the “Don’t Leave Me Behind!” vehicular heatstroke awareness campaign to an all-digital format, targeting residents with ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 19, 2017
PHOENIX— 28-year-old Andres Reyes was arrested this week in connection with the 2014 death of 22-year-old Bridget Charlebois and their full term unborn child.
Charlebois, Reyes’ fiancée, was confined to a wheelchair after sus...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 11, 2017
PHOENIX—On May 10th Dalton Philbrick (D.O.B. 09/27/1992) was sentenced to 12 years in the Department of Corrections for Burglary, Theft, and Trafficking in Stolen Property.
Starting in January 2015 and continuing until his arrest on January 22, 2...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 3, 2017
PHOENIX—The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (MCAO) has received two Criminal Justice and Public Safety awards from the National Association of Counties (NACo) for its innovative Restitution Specialist and Sex Assault Backlog programs...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 28, 2017
PHOENIX— As part of the four-month long “Don’t Leave Me Behind!” vehicular heatstroke awareness campaign which starts on May 1st , the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is challenging citizens to keep the ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 27, 2017
PHOENIX- Continuing the successful “Save Lives, Don’t DUI” campaign, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is partnering with ride-sharing service Lyft to offer Cinco de Mayo party goers an incentive not to drink an...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 24, 2017
PHOENIX— The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has launched a newly re-designed website, maricopacountyattorney.org.
The new website was created with the County’s web designer, Civic Plus. The redesign offers a more user-friendly experience for those looki...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 3, 2017
PHOENIX— On March 31st the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office became the largest prosecutor’s office in the country to transition their criminal functions from paper files to digital. This move to a digital file system will lower the cost associated with p...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 30, 2017
PHOENIX— On March 30th the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office filed criminal charges against three teenagers for incidents based on a Chandler Police investigation of hazing at a local high school.
One 17-year-old is being charged as an adult with Sex Assau...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 29, 2017
PHOENIX— On March 29th Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Denny Barney and Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery signed the 2018 budget for the County Attorney’s Office. The budget offers fiscal responsibility in the next...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 27, 2017
PHOENIX— Arizona will mark the 35th annual observance of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week with a recognition and awards presentation event April 4th at El Zaribah Shrine Auditorium in Phoenix. State leaders and representatives from ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 21, 2017
PHOENIX— Maricopa County residents can get information on how to prevent crime in their neighborhoods, improve their own personal safety, and how criminal activity trends may impact them at the 2017 County Attorney’s Citizen Safety For...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 6, 2017
PHOENIX— Today Joshua Hicks (D.O.B. 10/18/1984) was sentenced to 18.5 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections, followed by four years of supervised probation upon release, for 2 counts of Aggravated Assault, 1 count of Leaving the Scene o...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 3, 2017
PHOENIX- Continuing the successful campaign “Save Lives, Don’t DUI” the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is partnering with ride-sharing service Lyft to offer St. Patrick’s Day revelers an incentive not t...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 28, 2017
PHOENIX— On Saturday March 4th the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office will be supporting the efforts of the Damion Gosa Memorial Foundation in their 3rd Annual Freedom from Violence Walk.
The 5K will begin at 9 a.m. at South Pointe Eleme...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 24, 2017
PHOENIX— Today Gary Moran (D.O.B. 08/12/1959) pled guilty to 1st Degree Murder, Aggravated Assault and Burglary in the death of a priest and severe attack of another priest at a Phoenix mission during a burglary.
“The defendant took the...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 24, 2017
PHOENIX— One February 23rd Christopher Wright (D.O.B. 08/29/1977) plead guilty to two counts of 1st Degree Murder for shooting and killing his wife, Nasbah Laverne Wriqht and a good Samaritan who stopped to help, Tomas Ornelas.
“This pl...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 21, 2017
PHOENIX— Alan Faygenblat (D.O.B. 10/31/1978) was sentenced on February 14, 2017 to 12 months unsupervised probation and 160 hours of community restitution, for False Voter Registration, a class 1 misdemeanor.
In September of 2016, Faygenblat electronically...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 18, 2017
PHOENIX— As previously announced, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office will no longer detain County jail inmates facing a civil immigration detainer beyond the period of time for detention authorized under Arizona State law. This concl...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 6, 2017
PHOENIX— Alonzo Vargas (D.O.B. 09/24/1998) was sentenced today to three years of supervised probation and 40 hours of community service for one count of interfering with an educational intuition, a Class 6 Felony.
In October of 2016 Vargas posted...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 1, 2017
PHOENIX— This weekend many will gather together to enjoy watching the big game and all the festivities that surround the Super Bowl, including food and alcohol. Recently, advocates for responsible drinking partnered with a tortilla chip company ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 27, 2017
PHOENIX— Yesterday a jury found Aaron Dutra (D.O.B. 08/23/1968) guilty of Armed Robbery, Aggravated Assault, and Kidnapping for the robbery of a 16-year-old cashier at a restaurant in 2016.
“This defendant has eight prior felony convict...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 20, 2017
PHOENIX— Today Jawon Smith (D.O.B. 11/27/1989) was sentenced to 102 years in the Department of Corrections for one count of Sex Trafficking, four counts of Child Prostitution and one count of Disorderly Conduct.
“This defendant preyed o...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 13, 2017
PHOENIX— On December 15, 2016 former police officer Jeffery Streeter (D.O.B. 10/07/1970) pled guilty to a total of six counts of voyeurism, each a Class 5 Felony. He was sentenced today to three years in the Department of Corrections, with a ter...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 13, 2017
PHOENIX—Tilfert Vaughn (D.O.B. 12/01/1960) will serve in a total of 56 years in the Department of Corrections, after being sentenced for six counts of burglary, aggravated assault, sexual assault and kidnapping.
“This case illustrates t...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 11, 2017
PHOENIX— Rebekah Mellon (D.O.B. 09/09/1980) pled guilty to 2nd Degree Murder for the shooting death of her husband Donald Mellon at their home in 2012. She will not be eligible for early release and faces a sentencing range of 18-22 years in the...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 3, 2017
PHOENIX- On Wednesday January 4th , Bill Montgomery will return as one of the longest serving elected county officials, starting his third term as County Attorney. He will be sworn in by newly appointed Arizona Supreme Court Judge Andrew Gould at a County...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 21, 2016
PHOENIX- A jury returned a verdict recently in favor of Maricopa County in Lisa Randall v. Maricopa County, a lawsuit involving the Office of the Medical Examiner. In 2007, an investigation into the death of a four-month-old infant resulted in the prosecu...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 20, 2016
PHOENIX- Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery released the following statement after the Arizona Court of Appeals affirmed the Superior Court’s rulings striking down Maricopa County’s medical marijuana dispensary zoning. The court ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 13, 2016
PHOENIX- As calendars fill up with holiday parties and New Year celebrations, one partnership wants to help you schedule an essential part of every night out… a safe way home. Building on the success of its “Save Lives, Don’...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 12, 2016
PHOENIX- A woman who recruited teens to help sell fake coupon books, claiming they benefitted a charity, was sentenced to six concurrent prison terms. Christina Pacheco (DOB 05-13-1974) was charged with participating in a criminal syndicate, fraudulent sc...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 12, 2016
PHOENIX- Eugene Maraventano (DOB 02-22-1949) was sentenced today to 25 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for two counts of 2nd Degree Murder for killing his wife and adult son in 2013.
On April 6, 2013 Goodyear police were called to the home o...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 2, 2016
PHOENIX- Gary Eisenmann (D.O.B. 10-15-1969) was convicted this week of 86 felony and misdemeanor counts, from two separate indictments ranging from burglary to discharge of a firearm, all in connection to at least 16 home burglaries across the Valley in 2...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 30, 2016
PHOENIX— The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office today launched a new communication tool in an ongoing effort to provide information to the community. “The Opening Statement” is a blog that will focus on key topics in...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 23, 2016
PHOENIX— On Tuesday, November 22, 2016, U.S. District Court Judge David Campbell granted summary judgment on behalf of Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Maricopa County, and the State of Arizona. The s...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 22, 2016
PHOENIX— On Tuesday, November 22, 2016, the Arizona Supreme Court issued an opinion in the case of State of Arizona v. Christian Adair. The case concerns the constitutional standards that apply to a warrantless search of a probationer’...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 18, 2016
PHOENIX— The National District Attorneys Association (NDAA) named Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery as Co-chair of the Metropolitan Prosecutors Committee during their recent Fall Board Meeting in California. This new appointment comes aft...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 16, 2016
PHOENIX— This week, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office participated in the very first Association of Prosecuting Attorneys’ Regional Training for Prosecutor-Led Diversion, held here in Phoenix.
“We have strived to...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 10, 2016
PHOENIX— Avelino Guzman Tamala (DOB 6/4/1963) was found guilty of 1st Degree Murder, for the death of three-year-old Crystal Reyes. This verdict marks the culmination of nearly two decades of investigation by multiple agencies, including cold ca...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 24, 2016
PHOENIX Issa Said Saleh (D.O.B. 04/15/1954) was sentenced today to 10 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for one count of aggravated assault, a dangerous felony, followed by 3 years of supervised probation for a second count of aggravated assa...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 21, 2016
PHOENIX—Ryan Reed (DOB 12/03/85) and Allison Clement (DOB 12/18/84) were sentenced today for their actions that led to the death of Savannah Cross just weeks before her 3rd birthday. Reed was sentenced to 35 years in the Department of Correction...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 19, 2016
PHOENIX—On Friday, October 21st the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is encouraging our media partners to join us for Friday Night Football Patrol (FNFP) at Central High School in Phoenix. Volunteers will be encouraging students to si...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 14, 2016
PHOENIX—Javier Aguayo (DOB 07/01/91) was sentenced today to life without the possibly of parole for 25 years plus an additional 32.5 years in the Department of Corrections for Attempted 1st Degree Murder, Conspiracy to Commit 1st Degree Murder, ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 10, 2016
PHOENIX— Starting on October 10th the Family Violence Bureau at the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office will begin operating as two geographically-based bureaus to more effectively serve communities across Maricopa County.
“By d...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 3, 2016
PHOENIX – The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office and the Phoenix Police Department will hold a joint press conference to announce recent sex assault kit grant awards on Tuesday, October 4th at 9:00 a.m. in the 8th Floor Conference room ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 30, 2016
PHOENIX— During the month of October the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office will be joining with partners nationwide to support Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Our state has seen the damage this issue can inflict not only on victims,...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 30, 2016
PHOENIX – Over the past week several high schools in Maricopa County have been the targets of threats made through social media postings. Fortunately there does not appear to be substance thus far to these threats of violence. However, each and ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 22, 2016
PHOENIX—The Arizona Court of Appeals handed down a key opinion in State v. Martinson, the case of a father accused of killing his five-year-old son in 2004. The Court of Appeals found that the trial judge’s rulings that precluded evide...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 20, 2016
PHOENIX—Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery released the following statement in response to today’s release of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) report.
“President Barack Obama...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 20, 2016
PHOENIX— On September 13, 2016, the Arizona Supreme Court voted 3-2 to leave Arizona law unchanged regarding the charges of sexual abuse and molestation of a child. Since at least 1988, state law has allowed those accused of specific sexual offe...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 19, 2016
PHOENIX— On September 16, 2016, former track coach, Christopher McKenna (DOB 06/07/78) was sentenced to 10 years in the Department of Corrections for one count of sexual conduct with a minor and two counts of aggravated luring of a minor for sex...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 16, 2016
PHOENIX— The final defendant in “Operation Tin Man,” the largest auto theft crime syndicate investigation MCAO has ever prosecuted, has been sentenced. Charles Flowers (D.O.B. 1/20/1962) was sentenced to four years in the Dep...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 8, 2016
September 8, 2016
PHOENIX— Jaime Norberto Sapien (D.O.B. 08/16/1984) and Jesse Armando Monroy (D.O.B. 05/14/1976) each received a total sentence of 30years in the Department of Corrections for the 2015 burglary and murder of a 53-year-old pastor ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 1, 2016
PHOENIX— Misty Lee Wilke (D.O.B. 6/20/62) was sentenced today to 6.5 years in the Department of Corrections on one count of aggravated assault, to be followed by 3 years of supervised probation on one count of leaving the scene of a serious inju...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 18, 2016
PHOENIX— Miguel Angel Maldonado was sentenced today to eight months in jail and five years of supervised probation for his actions that led to a car crash and serious injuries to three victims in another car, and the passenger in his car. Maldon...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 18, 2016
PHOENIX—The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (MCAO) Investigations Division has been awarded Advanced Accreditation from the highly-respected Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). Known as “the go...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 12, 2016
PHOENIX— The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (MCAO) today launched a new feature on its website that makes it easier for non-profit organizations to apply for funding through its Community Grants program.
“MCAO’s C...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 11, 2016
PHOENIX— The Arizona Prosecuting Attorneys’ Advisory Council (APAAC) named Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery as the new State Director for Arizona for the National District Attorneys Association (NDAA) to replace retiring Greenl...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 3, 2016
PHOENIX— The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) released a report on completion of a Pilot Cities Project, in which the City of Mesa was selected to participate. The project, Intelligence-Led Communi...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 1, 2016
PHOENIX— James King was sentenced to 283.5 years in the Department of Corrections for ten counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, each a class 2 felony and considered Dangerous Crimes against Children. Each count carried 28 years flat plus 3.5...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 22, 2016
PHOENIX—Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery has announced that no charges will be filed against Winslow Police Officer Austin Shipley in the shooting that led to the death of Loreal Tsingine.
“After a careful review of the facts su...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 20, 2016
PHOENIX— MCAO’s first victim support dog, Sam, submitted his resignation today to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. In a unanimous vote, the Board approved a motion for Sam to continue to live with his handler and Victim Advoca...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 11, 2016
PHOENIX—Christopher Simcox (11/29/1960) was sentenced today to 19.5 years in the Department of Corrections for two counts of molestation of a child and one count of furnishing obscene materials to a minor. He was convicted on June 8, 2016.
&l...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 1, 2016
PHOENIX— Zakary Howard (D.O.B. 9/23/1993) was sentenced today to 18 years in the Department of Corrections for his role in the April 2015 shooting death of a friend. Howard’s co-defendant and the convicted shooter, Richard Burns, was s...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 30, 2016
PHOENIX – A settlement agreement was entered into today with Jesse Todd Hughes (D.O.B. 9/28/1982) and Maleisa Maurine Hughes (D.O.B. 9/10/1969), owners of the Green Acres Boarding facility in Mesa for the death of 23 dogs left in their care. The...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 30, 2016
PHOENIX— James Clayton Johnson (D.O.B. 8/2/1983) has received the sentence of death for the brutal stabbing murder of an employee at Taiwan Massage in Mesa in 2010.
“The defendant perpetrated the vicious slaughter of an innocent woman,&...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 28, 2016
PHOENIX— Kalie Rutledge (D.O.B. 8/13/1993) was sentenced to three years of supervised probation with an initial 90 days in jail for the assault of two Chinese ASU students. The defendant pled guilty to one count of Class 6 felony assault. She wi...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 27, 2016
PHOENIX—The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has received the Maricopa Association of Governments 2016 Desert Peaks Public Partnership Award for its collaboration with multiple county agencies, the courts and Mercy Integrated Care on ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 15, 2016
PHOENIX—The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (MCAO) has received three National Association of Counties (NACo) Achievement Awards for its innovative community programs: Friday Night Football Patrol, Safe Kids Summer and the &ldquo...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 10, 2016
PHOENIX—Ryan Elliott Giroux (D.O.B. 12/26/73) was sentenced today to Natural Life in the Department of Corrections for one count of murder plus 81 years for an additional 22 counts including one count of attempted murder and eight counts of aggr...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 8, 2016
PHOENIX—Christopher Simcox (11/29/1960) was found guilty today on two counts of molestation of a child and one count of furnishing obscene materials to a minor, for his conduct with a young girl.
Between April 21, 2012, and May 23, 2013, during s...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 7, 2016
PHOENIX—MCAO staff volunteers are heading out into the community for another season of Safe Kids Summer as part of our ongoing effort to provide safety education and awareness to the public. Booths will be set up at locations around the Valley t...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 6, 2016
PHOENIX—The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is launching a new Summer Learning Series for kids ages 6-12. Community Affairs Coordinators will be delivering curriculum-based safety programming at summer camps and other youth organizat...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 3, 2016
PHOENIX—Alvin Ray McClellan (09/21/1969), a former middle school teacher’s aide and gym teacher at Mohave Middle School, was sentenced to 10 years in the Department of Corrections on count 1 of sexual exploitation of a minor, followed ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 1, 2016
PHOENIX – As Arizona is reaching triple-digit temperatures, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is today launching its “Don’t Leave Me Behind!” vehicular heatstroke awareness campaign. A mobile billboard...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 27, 2016
PHOENIX—Three protesters charged with blocking a road leading to a Trump rally in March have entered into a plea agreement. Michael Cassidy, Stephany Laughlin and Jacinta Gonzalez pled guilty to Obstructing a Highway/Public Thoroughfare, a class...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 27, 2016
PHOENIX—Keishaun Green (D.O.B. 06/26/1992) was sentenced today to Natural Life in the Arizona Department of Corrections for the 2013 murder of a convenience store clerk, Ibrahim Robles, Sr. He is also sentenced to a consecutive 25 year term for ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 27, 2016
Faces a Minimum of 149.25 Years in Prison
PHOENIX— Leon Jerome Daniels (03/24/1987) has been found guilty on 17 counts related to the trafficking of three females--two adults and one minor--for sex around the time of the 2015 Super Bowl in Phoeni...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 20, 2016
PHOENIX – Kevin Francois (D.O.B. 02/19/1966) was sentenced today to 137.75 years—the maximum allowed—in the Arizona Department of Corrections for the brutal rape of a 19-year-old ASU student in 2003.
“This case is an...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 19, 2016
PHOENIX – Tracy Elise (D.O.B. 12/20/1960), the self-proclaimed Mother High Priestess of the Phoenix Goddess Temple, been ordered to serve a term of 4.5 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for operating a house of prostitution. Under t...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 19, 2016
PHOENIX – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery today announced that he will not file charges in the December 3, 2015 shooting death of Ivan Krstic by Mesa Police Officer Dustin Gransee.
“After a thorough review of the evidence, incl...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 10, 2016
PHOENIX – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery will join with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in offering a reward for information leading to the arrest of the person responsible for shooting a Maricopa County Sheriff’s Deputy d...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 9, 2016
PHOENIX – Judge Pamela Gates today sentenced Andre Antonio Adams (D.O.B. 3/8/1983) to a term of 330.75 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for causing two 15-year-old girls to engage in prostitution and for providing them with drugs. ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 6, 2016
PHOENIX – Danny Ledezma Martinez (D.O.B. 10/16/1979) will spend the rest of his natural life in prison for fatally shooting Phoenix Police Officer Travis Murphy in 2010. In the sentence imposed today by the Honorable Teresa Sanders, Martinez was...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 4, 2016
PHOENIX – The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has completed a review of a case submitted by the Mesa Police Department involving a Red Mountain High School student arrested Saturday for allegedly exposing himself in a team photo that...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 2, 2016
PHOENIX – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit today lifted a preliminary injunction that effectively blocked the prosecution of individuals accused of using another’s identity in order to gain employment, leaving hundreds o...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 18, 2016
PHOENIX - Local residents can learn how to reduce crime and improve their personal safety and security at the 2016 Citizen Safety Forum, a series of free informational seminars presented by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. Offered at locat...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 11, 2016
PHOENIX – Arizona will mark the 34th annual observance of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week with a luncheon and awards presentation event today at 11:30 a.m. at The Duce restaurant in Phoenix. State leaders and representatives from l...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 4, 2016
PHOENIX - In support of Sexual Assault Awareness Month this April, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office wants the public to know that victims of sexual assault can receive a free forensic medical examination.
“Sexual assault survivors ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 19, 2016
PRESS RELEASE BY OPERATION WELCOME HOME & AZ WALL PROJECT
Gilbert, Ariz., (March 19, 2016) – Operation Welcome Home will hold a Ground Blessing and Ceremonial Ground Breaking from 10:00 - 11:30 AM for Welcome Home Veterans Park on the propert...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 11, 2016
PHOENIX - Building on the success of its “Save Lives, Don’t DUI” campaign, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is partnering with ride-sharing service Uber to offer St. Patrick’s Day revelers an incentiv...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 7, 2016
PHOENIX – A Phoenix man accused of repeatedly stalking and harassing two female victims has been sentenced to one-and-a-half years in prison followed by a 20-year term of probation. Donald Lee Scott (D.O.B. 7-31-1962) pled guilty to one count of...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 4, 2016
PHOENIX –Maricopa County prosecutors filed a Direct Complaint today charging a Mesa Police Officer with second degree murder for fatally shooting a suspect during an incident that occurred last January at a local hotel. Philip Mitchell Brailsfor...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 24, 2016
PHOENIX – Effective immediately, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office will discontinue providing iPhones as option for replacements or upgrades for existing employees. Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery announced the decision to...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 12, 2016
PHOENIX – Wade Eugene Bradford (D.O.B. 6/17/1960) has been sentenced to a term of natural life in prison for the 2006 murder of Eleanor Su Pigon, whose body was discovered in 2014 as Bradford was awaiting trial for a murder he committed in 2010....
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 11, 2016
PHOENIX – Members of the public will have an opportunity to safely destroy unneeded financial records and prescription medications at a free Shred-A-Thon hosted by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office in partnership with Iron Mountain...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 9, 2016
PHOENIX – After smoking a blunt of marijuana, 19-year-old Robert Joseph Lopez (D.O.B. 7/15/1995) got behind the wheel of a Saturn sedan and took four passengers on a reckless, high speed ride on Interstate 10 before losing control of the car and...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 9, 2016
PHOENIX – A man whose one-year-old son died after he left the child unattended in a hot car for over four hours will spend more than two decades in prison. Brokale Lytte Marques (D.O.B. 10/13/1984) was charged with murder and child abuse. He wai...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 3, 2016
PHOENIX – After deliberating for less than four hours, a jury has found Adam Mena Angulo (D.O.B. 5/5/1973) guilty of second degree murder for fatally shooting Leo Chavez, Jr. outside a Phoenix bar in 2004. After remaining unsolved for nearly a d...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 8, 2016
PHOENIX – Due to the overwhelming success of the recent “Save Lives, Don’t DUI” campaign, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office and Uber will extend their partnership to offer a twenty-dollar discount to f...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 16, 2015
PHOENIX – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery is announcing a partnership with ridesharing service Uber today to provide a safe, affordable transportation alternative for local residents during the holiday season. As part of the MCAO&rs...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 11, 2015
PHOENIX – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery will not file criminal charges against State Board of Education President Greg Miller for an alleged assault against Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas that occurred during a boa...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 8, 2015
PHOENIX – A local horse riding instructor and trainer accused of sexually abusing seven young girls between 2002 and 2009 has been found guilty on all counts. After five indictments and two mistrials, Ralph Lawrence Carr (D.O.B. 5/27/1946) now f...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 4, 2015
PHOENIX – An intoxicated driver who struck and killed an on-duty Chandler Police officer last year will serve a 14-year term in the Arizona Department of Corrections. Under terms of the sentence imposed today by the Honorable Judge Warren Granvi...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 2, 2015
PHOENIX – Ninety people convicted of sex crimes who evaded their court-ordered requirement to register as a sex offender have been located and 26 have been re-arrested as a result of a recent coordinated operation by the Maricopa County Attorney...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 19, 2015
PHOENIX – A woman who left her nine-month and 23-month-old sons unattended in a parked van last August while she went shopping has been found guilty of felony child abuse. Amanda Hope Gomez-Vidal (D.O.B. 5/13/1985) told police she was away from ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 9, 2015
PHOENIX – Members of the public are invited to a free document shredding event hosted by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office to reduce the risk of identity theft. Destroying unneeded tax returns, billing statements and other papers w...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 30, 2015
PHOENIX – Crime in Maricopa County continues to fall by a greater margin than the nation as a whole, according to the latest data released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In its annual report, Crime in the United States, 2014, the FBI no...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 23, 2015
PHOENIX – Based upon information developed over the course of the criminal investigation to date, prosecutors have filed a direct complaint against Leslie Allen Merritt, Jr. (D.O.B. 6/20/1994) alleging sixteen felony counts in connection with a ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 21, 2015
PHOENIX - The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (MCAO) will host a free family-friendly movie night at Goodyear Ballpark on Saturday, September 26 to mark the start of Domestic Violence Awareness month in October and to raise funds for the New L...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 14, 2015
PHOENIX – A jury today returned guilty verdicts for Christopher Rey Licon (D.O.B. 1/26/1991), accused of fatally shooting his brother and six-year-old nephew and attempting to conceal evidence of the crime. His trial continues tomorrow with the ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 14, 2015
PHOENIX – A pair of former prison cell mates are facing multiple felony charges for allegedly committing a string of armed robberies and carjackings while on parole. Dennis Lee Matthews (D.O.B. 10/16/1980) and Chad Forrest Whiteford (D.O.B. 9/12...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 11, 2015
PHOENIX – A bank robber whose accomplice was killed in a shootout with a security guard will serve a 25-year sentence in the Arizona Department of Corrections. Vincent Robert Jones (D.O.B. 12/14/1992) pled guilty to all charges in a 37-count ind...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 10, 2015
PHOENIX – The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office will receive a $1.9 million grant from the New York County District Attorney’s Office to analyze previously untested sexual assault evidence kits. The award is one of the larges...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 28, 2015
PHOENIX - Lawyers for Maricopa County are asking a federal district court to honor the County’s right to represent itself in a 2007 class action lawsuit alleging discriminatory policing by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. The Coun...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 22, 2015
PHOENIX – A prison inmate serving a sentence for murder will receive the death penalty for brutally killing another prisoner in 2010. Jasper Phillip Rushing (D.O.B. 5/18/1980) was serving a sentence of life without parole for 25 years for the 20...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 21, 2015
PHOENIX – A homicide case that remained unsolved for more than 25 years came to a final conclusion today when the Honorable Judge Sam Myers sentenced Cudellious Love (D.O.B. 12/4/1955) to a life term in the Arizona Department of Corrections with...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 20, 2015
PHOENIX – After a lengthy trial involving testimony from over fifty witnesses and seven victims, a jury today returned multiple guilty verdicts against Anthony Greg Gehon (11/26/1954) in connection with an extensive prostitution enterprise he op...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 17, 2015
PHOENIX – The mother of a five-year-old girl who disappeared in 2011 will spend the rest of her life in prison after being found guilty last April of her daughter’s murder. Jerice Hunter (D.O.B. 10/13/1973) was also sentenced to a cons...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 10, 2015
PHOENIX – Wade Eugene Bradford (D.O.B. 6/17/1960) will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of release for the cold blooded killing of his former girlfriend, Natalie Allan in 2010. The Honorable M. Scott McCoy also senten...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 10, 2015
PHOENIX – The final chapter in the story of a failed business relationship came to a conclusion today when Judge Joseph Kreamer sentenced Chad Justin Norris (D.O.B. 7/21/1979) to a term of 18 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for th...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 26, 2015
PHOENIX – An armed robber who hit three Mesa businesses that sold cell phones was sentenced to serve a term of 38 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections today. Patrick Dwayne Porter (D.O.B. 8/4/1983) was also sentenced for a separate cas...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 16, 2015
PHOENIX - Prosecutors moved to dismiss without prejudice child abuse counts against Hemie and Wedeh Dio and Judge Bruce Cohen granted the State’s motion today.
In 2007, the Dio family relocated their family to Arizona from war-torn Liberia and re...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 5, 2015
PHOENIX – A paroled convict who terrified a neighborhood and held a woman and her children hostage during a lengthy and violent standoff with Mesa Police will serve an 18-year sentence in the Arizona Department of Corrections. Michael Brandon Hu...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 4, 2015
PHOENIX – “Don’t Leave Me Behind!” is the message motorists will see on a mobile billboard truck travelling throughout Maricopa County this summer, warning of the dangers of leaving young children and animals in una...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 2, 2015
PHOENIX - Late in the afternoon of May 28, 2015, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office received notice of a recent FBI Bulletin describing an amendment to the 1999 and 2001 FBI Short Tandem Repeats (STR) Population Data due to clerical and trans...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 1, 2015
PHOENIX – Rejecting Arizona’s experience with Defendants fleeing prosecution, the U.S. Supreme Court will let stand a decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that permits criminal suspects in Arizona without lawful authority who...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 6, 2015
PHOENIX - Twenty-two years after Debra Shipton was found murdered in her Mesa apartment, her suspected killer has been charged with the crime. Raymond H. Hanley (D.O.B 1/27/1953) faces charges of first degree murder, burglary; kidnapping and arson of an o...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 6, 2015
PHOENIX – A Maricopa County Grand Jury has reinstated animal cruelty charges against the owners of Green Acre Boarding in Gilbert in connection with the deaths of 21 dogs and the injury of four others that occurred in June, 2014. Jesse Todd Hugh...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 6, 2015
PHOENIX – Yavapai Silent Witness is offering a $10,000 cash reward for information leading to the arrest of a driver suspected of causing a fatal car crash that claimed the life of Sonya Teresa Coronado, an employee of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Offic...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 4, 2015
PHOENIX – An apparent act of road rage has claimed the life of a dedicated employee of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. On April 10, 2015, Sonya Coronado, a legal secretary in the Civil Division, was seriously injured after her v...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 27, 2015
PHOENIX – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery issued the following statement today on the State v. Jerice Hunter verdict:
“We never forgot Jhessey and may the memory of her suffering and the end of a life that came all too soon mot...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 24, 2015
PHOENIX – Seventeen years after he engaged in sexual acts with a 13-year-old boy, Arthur Rey Juarez (D.O.B. 7/20/1970) is in the custody of the Arizona Department of Corrections where he will serve a 33-year sentence. His crimes occurred between...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 23, 2015
PHOENIX – A repeat felon who committed three armed robberies and a murder in the space of a month is on his way to prison today, where he will spend the rest of his life. Ryan William Foote (D.O.B. 5/15/1989) was sentenced by the Honorable Judge...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 23, 2015
PHOENIX – The Arizona Supreme Court will allow prosecutors to use blood test results provided by the Scottsdale Crime Lab (SCL) in a series of DUI cases against Defendants who had challenged the reliability of the lab’s equipment. In r...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 21, 2015
PHOENIX – The Arizona Supreme Court declined to overturn an Appeals Court ruling that imposes sanctions against the Committee for Justice and Fairness (CJF), a political committee that broadcast commercials attacking Tom Horne shortly before the...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 9, 2015
PHOENIX – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery issued the following statement today on adoption petition services provided by the County Attorney’s Office:
Under Arizona law, “Prospective adoptive parents have no absolute ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 23, 2015
PHOENIX - Darren Mallory Sharper (D.O.B. 11/3/1975) pled guilty today to offenses stemming from a November, 2013 sexual encounter and was sentenced to a nine year prison term. At a change of plea hearing before the Honorable Judge Warren Granville in Phoe...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 17, 2015
PHOENIX – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery issued the following statement today in response to the Arizona Supreme Court’s denial of the State’s Petition for Review of a Special Action Decision dismissing charges with...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 12, 2015
PHOENIX – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery issued the following statement today in response to recent reports of threats and intimidation made against a member of the jury in State v. Jodi Arias:
Claims of juror misconduct in any trial ar...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 5, 2015
PHOENIX– A Maricopa County jury is unable to reach a decision on whether Jodi Ann Arias (D.O.B. 7/9/1980) should be sentenced to death for the 2008 murder of Travis Alexander. This is the second jury to reach an impasse in the penalty phase of t...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 4, 2015
PHOENIX – Senior prosecutors from 15 states are in Phoenix for a two-day conference to discuss a range of initiatives designed to improve performance of the overall prosecution function and the criminal justice system. The nationwide “...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 25, 2015
PHOENIX – Police and prosecutors in Maricopa County will follow updated procedures for investigating incidents of domestic violence and holding offenders accountable. The process is detailed in the Maricopa County Domestic Violence Protocol Manu...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 18, 2015
PHOENIX – Edgar Garcia (D.O.B. 8/13/1980) faces more than 100 years in prison for repeatedly raping and molesting his stepdaughters over a seven-year period. After a two-week trial, a Maricopa County jury convicted Garcia on multiple counts of s...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 12, 2015
PHOENIX – A major organized crime ring accused of stealing thousands of dollars of baby formula from local grocery stores is out of commission thanks to a successful investigation and enforcement action by Scottsdale Police, the Maricopa County ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 10, 2015
PHOENIX – Law enforcement authorities are attempting to locate an accomplice to the January 2012 murders of Lawrence and Glenna Shapiro. Barry Michael Hassell II (D.O.B. 10/2/1983) is charged with two counts of felony first degree murder for dri...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 10, 2015
PHOENIX - Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery strongly supports Governor Doug Ducey’s appointment of current Chief of the Office of Child Welfare Investigations, Greg McKay, to serve as Director of the Department of Child Safety.
“...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 29, 2015
Prescription drug disposal also available on site
PHOENIX– Members of the public will be able to safely destroy unused or expired prescription medications as well as unneeded documents containing personal information at a free event on Friday, Fe...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 13, 2015
PHOENIX – A growing supply of inexpensive heroin is fueling an epidemic of addiction and criminal activity in Arizona, with devastating effects on young users in particular. The problem is the subject of “Hooked: Tracking Heroin&rs...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 22, 2014
PHOENIX – Prosecutors will move to dismiss without prejudice animal cruelty counts against all four defendants charged with causing the deaths of 21 dogs at the Green Acre dog boarding facility last June. One count of fraud will remain against J...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 19, 2014
PHOENIX – 17 years after four-year-old Crystal Reyes disappeared, Avelino Guzman Tamala (D.O.B. 6/4/1963) is in custody facing charges for her murder. His indictment marks the culmination of nearly two decades of investigation by multiple agenci...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 5, 2014
PHOENIX – Juan Garcia (D.O.B. 7/12/1993) will serve a 25-year term in the Arizona Department of Corrections for beating his girlfriend’s two-year-old son to death after the child refused to eat his dinner. Garcia pled guilty earlier th...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 24, 2014
PHOENIX –Michelle Dawn Gibson (D.O.B. 9/5/1971) is now facing a life prison sentence after a jury today found her guilty of conspiring with her children and their friends to murder her husband, Steven Gibson. Her son, Steven Gibson Jr., was sent...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 13, 2014
PHOENIX – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery issued the following statement in response to today’s ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States denying the County’s request to stay a ruling by the Ninth Circuit Cour...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 7, 2014
PHOENIX – The Supreme Court of the United States today ordered a stay of a recent judgment by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that overturned Arizona’s law denying bail for undocumented suspects charged with serious crimes. In reque...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 31, 2014
PHOENIX –In an order issued today, the Arizona Court of Appeals granted a request for oral argument by Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery in White Mountain Health Center v. Maricopa County. The appeal seeks review of previous trial court r...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 30, 2014
One in six Arizona 12th grade students who use marijuana obtains their drugs from someone with a medical marijuana card.
PHOENIX - Arizona’s top prosecutors are calling for political and civic leaders to oppose the legalization of marijuana for r...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 27, 2014
PHOENIX – A suspected rapist whose conviction was reversed in 2010 after a legal challenge by the Arizona Justice Project now faces ten counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. John Kenneth Watkins (D.O.B. 6/3/1983) was arrested on the new char...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 24, 2014
PHOENIX – Ian MacDonald (D.O.B. 8/25/1986) will spend the next 18 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for fatally stabbing Tyrice Thompson during a fight outside a Scottsdale nightclub last year. MacDonald was convicted on one count o...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 23, 2014
PHOENIX – Maricopa County Bill Montgomery is asking a federal appeals court to delay the implementation of a recent ruling that allows undocumented aliens who are charged with a serious felony to be released on bail. In an emergency motion filed...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 15, 2014
PHOENIX – The Grand Jurors of Maricopa County have handed down an indictment charging Jesse Todd Hughes, Maleisa Maurine Hughes, Austin Lane Flake and Logan Flake with multiple felony and misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals in connection wi...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 15, 2014
PHOENIX – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery issued the following statement in response to today’s opinion issued by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that Proposition 100 violates the Fourteenth Amendment....
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 8, 2014
PHOENIX – The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office will serve as a mentor to other prosecution agencies in several critical practice areas as part of an innovative program developed by the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys. As one of e...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 22, 2014
PHOENIX – In recognition of the ongoing public interest in the Gilbert Green Acre investigation, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office provides the following update: Deputy County Attorneys have completed their initial review of approx...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 18, 2014
PHOENIX – The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona is spreading misinformation about an upcoming law enforcement training seminar on Islamic extremism sponsored by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. A letter distributed to med...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 16, 2014
PHOENIX – A pair of gang members are facing lengthy prison terms following their convictions yesterday on multiple felony counts related to a shooting that occurred outside a Tempe nightclub in March, 2012. Bryston Ware (D.O.B. 4/19/1990) and Ra...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 12, 2014
PHOENIX – An Arizona inmate who has served 44 years of a life sentence for a murder he committed when he was 17 will be released as part of a resolution to reduce his sentence to time served. Ray Chatman (D.O.B. 8/21/1952) was convicted of first...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 5, 2014
PHOENIX – A Maricopa County Jury today sentenced Dauntorian Lydel Sanders (D.O.B 4/12/1986) to death by lethal injection for fatally beating Schala Vera, his girlfriend’s three-year-old daughter, in 2009. He was convicted of first degr...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 28, 2014
PHOENIX – A Maricopa County jury imposed a sentence of death by lethal injection against Bryan Wayne Hulsey (D.O.B. 11/26/1973) for the 2007 murder of Glendale Police Officer Anthony Holly. Hulsey was also sentenced to a term of 9 years for the ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 27, 2014
PHOENIX – A report released by Shared Hope International in collaboration with Arizona State University College of Public Programs presents an inaccurate picture of how child prostitution and sex trafficking crimes are prosecuted in Maricopa Cou...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 25, 2014
PHOENIX – An impaired motorist who fatally struck a bicyclist and fled will serve a five-year prison sentence and remain on probation for four years after his release. Matthew Stephen McIver (D.O.B. 11/3/1976) was identified, apprehended and ind...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 18, 2014
PHOENIX – County Attorney Bill Montgomery announced a new organizational structure for the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office today designed to enhance the prosecution of serious felony offenses. Eleven specialized crime bureaus previou...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 11, 2014
PHOENIX – A mobile billboard truck will travel Valley streets and highways throughout the month of August carrying a warning message about the dangers of leaving an unattended child or a pet in a parked car. The signage, which depicts a child an...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 7, 2014
PHOENIX – The Committee for Justice and Fairness (CJF) should have registered as a political committee and disclosed its financial contributors when the group created television ads attacking Tom Horne’s candidacy for Arizona Attorney ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 1, 2014
PHOENIX – A Mesa Police Officer stands accused of engaging in sexual contact with two female victims without their consent and molesting a child under the age of 15, according to a Maricopa Grand Jury indictment. Justin Cherry (D.O.B. 7/5/1980) ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 28, 2014
PHOENIX – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery issued the following statement following today’s guilty verdicts in State v. Bryan Wayne Hulsey:
“Though the case is not final, today’s verdicts mark a long-awaited ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 24, 2014
PHOENIX - The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has reached a resolution with a company that was used by convicted felon Sherman E. Unkefer III (D.O.B. 9/21/1943) to conceal his assets and avoid paying millions of dollars in court-ordered restit...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 18, 2014
PHOENIX – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery will dismiss child abuse charges against Shanesha Shaine Taylor (D.O.B. 1/22/1979) if she successfully completes parenting and substance abuse treatment programs and establishes education and ch...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 14, 2014
PHOENIX - A Maricopa County Grand Jury has delivered an indictment charging Alison Clement and Ryan Reed with second degree murder and child abuse in connection with the December, 2012 death of a nearly three-year-old girl in their care. Reed is also char...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 27, 2014
PHOENIX – Prosecutors with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office will greatly reduce the amount of paperwork they have to handle by using a new online criminal case management system to create and exchange electronic documents with the...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 20, 2014
PHOENIX – A man whose infant son died after he was left in a parked car more than two hours last August has been sentenced to a term of four years in the Arizona Department of Corrections followed by a seven-year term of probation. Daniel B. Gra...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 18, 2014
PHOENIX – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery issued the following statement in response to the announcement of a complaint filed by the ACLU on behalf of Puente Arizona against Maricopa County, the Maricopa County Sheriff, the Maricopa Cou...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 18, 2014
PHOENIX – Twenty-five years after Laura Hunding was stabbed to death, a suspect has been identified and taken into custody. Cudellious Love (D.O.B. 12/4/1955) was arrested on June 13, 2014 and charged with premeditated first degree murder, sexua...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 17, 2014
PHOENIX– Employee volunteers from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office will be out in force throughout the community this summer offering a free program that teaches children about personal safety and provides parents with resources t...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 9, 2014
PHOENIX – Federal officials who apprehend children in border enforcement actions and then leave them unattended at locations in Arizona may be guilty of felony child abuse under state law, warns Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery. In a let...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 30, 2014
PHOENIX – A Maricopa County Superior Court has appointed a Receiver to take custody of the assets of a convicted fraud artist who failed to pay up to $7.5 million in court ordered restitution to his victims. The action is the result of a recentl...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 30, 2014
PHOENIX – A gunman who fired on a Chandler Police Officer and a civilian observer who was in the officer’s vehicle has been found guilty of multiple counts of attempted murder and aggravated assault after a two week trial. Steven Ramir...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 28, 2014
PHOENIX – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery announced that there is insufficient evidence to establish a reasonable likelihood of conviction on animal cruelty charges involving the death of Department of Corrections Officer Jesse Dorantes...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 19, 2014
PHOENIX – A man who used Facebook to lure and sexually exploit underage victims will spend 24 years in prison and will not be eligible for early release under any circumstances. Michael Dean Ross (D.O.B. 7/24/1970) pled guilty to charges stemmin...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 30, 2014
PHOENIX – A Maricopa County Jury has returned a verdict to impose a life sentence on Marissa Devault who was convicted for the 2009 murder of her husband, Dale Harrell. She is scheduled to be sentenced on June 6, 2014.
“We appreciate th...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 22, 2014
PHOENIX – Legislation enacted today will enhance the ability of Arizona prosecutors to hold offenders accountable for crimes related to human trafficking and child prostitution. House Bill 2454, sponsored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Ed...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 22, 2014
PHOENIX – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery issued the following statement in response to today’s published opinion in State v. Harris (Shilgevorkyan) by the Supreme Court of the State of Arizona:
The only way the Court could rea...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 2, 2014
PHOENIX – A man found with numerous images and videos on his computer depicting child pornography has been sentenced to a 170-year prison term after a jury found him guilty on ten counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. Defendant John Landrum ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 31, 2014
PHOENIX – A recent Superior Court ruling throws into doubt exactly how much marijuana qualified patients are allowed to have under the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act (AMMA). Although the AMMA defines the “allowable amount of marijuana&a...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 10, 2014
PHOENIX - Local residents can learn how to reduce crime and improve their personal safety and security at the 2014 Citizen Safety Forum, a series of free informational seminars presented by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. Offered at locat...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 28, 2014
PHOENIX – A fatal confrontation in a fast-food restaurant parking lot has resulted in an eight year prison sentence for Cordell Lamar Jude (D.O.B. 1/10/1990). Jude was found guilty of manslaughter last November for recklessly causing the death o...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 11, 2014
PHOENIX – An armed robber who threatened employees and a Tempe Police officer at the Arizona Mills Mall in 2011 faces a lengthy prison sentence after a jury found him guilty of multiple felony offenses. Roger Nelson (D.O.B. 4/18/1992) is schedul...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 10, 2014
PHOENIX – Jorge Alberto Busso Jr. (D.O.B. 6/10/1987) has been sentenced to serve a term of 18 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for severely beating his girlfriend’s 4-year-old son after the child had soiled himself. The c...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 23, 2014
PHOENIX, AZ (January 23, 2014) – A man accused of the worst mass murder in Arizona history has been found guilty by a Maricopa County jury for a second time more than two decades after the crime. Johnathan A. Doody (D.O.B. 5/9/1974) was original...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 17, 2014
PHOENIX, AZ (January 17, 2014) – More than three decades after the murder of 19-year-old Alison Mims, her killer has been brought to justice. Patrick C. Ryon (D.O.B. 2/20/1960) was sentenced today to a term of 18 years in the Arizona Department ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 14, 2014
PHOENIX, AZ (January 14, 2014) – The Arizona Court of Appeals has cleared the way for ten DUI cases to move forward after determining that blood alcohol content (BAC) results provided by the Scottsdale Crime Lab (SCL) are admissible under Arizon...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 13, 2014
PHOENIX, AZ (January 13, 2014) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery issued the following statement in response to today’s announcement by the U.S. Supreme Court regarding Arizona’s law prohibiting abortions after 20-wee...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 9, 2014
PHOENIX, AZ (January 9, 2014) – More than seven years after 75 year-old Patricia Staggs was beaten to death in her home, the man alleged to be responsible for her murder has been identified and charged. Jose Manuel Muros Nevares (D.O.B. 4/20/197...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 20, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (December 20, 2013) – A 35 year-old woman who posed as a teenager and had multiple separate sexual encounters with two underage males has been ordered to serve a term of 17 years in the Arizona Department of Correction. Under the ter...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 19, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (December 19, 2013) – A pair of repeat criminals received lengthy prison sentences in two separate hearings today for committing a series of violent home invasions, one of which led to the death of an elderly couple. Kevin Michael Ta...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 6, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (December 6, 2013) – A former Certified Public Accountant in Scottsdale who bilked six of his clients out of nearly $1 million will spend 35 years in prison, according to a sentence handed down today by the Honorable David B. Gass. D...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 5, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (December 5, 2013) – Joshua Barnes (D.O.B. 2/4/1980) has been ordered to serve two concurrent 15-year sentences in the Arizona Department of Corrections for a violent home invasion that victimized three elderly residents in Sun City ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 20, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (November 20, 2013) – Cordell Lamar Jude (D.O.B. 1/10/1990) is guilty of Manslaughter for recklessly causing the death of Daniel Adkins after a verbal altercation in a parking lot last year, according to a jury verdict delivered toda...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 7, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (November 7, 2013) – In a strongly-worded response to a recent series of articles that appeared in the Arizona Republic, County Attorney Bill Montgomery corrects numerous mischaracterizations about the role and responsibilities of pr...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 31, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (October 31, 2013) – A new collaborative effort to solve cold cases has led to an indictment for a murder that remained unsolved for more than three decades. Teodoro Barron Corella, Jr. (D.O.B. 5/18/1957) faces one count of First Deg...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 23, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (October 18, 2013) – A convicted felon on parole who tried to murder the parents of a minor he was having a sexual relationship with was sentenced by the Honorable Harriett Chavez today to a term of 45 years in the Arizona Department...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 23, 2013
Videos spread message in English and Spanish: “It’s your community. It’s your call.”
PHOENIX, AZ (October 23, 2013) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery urges County residents to “step out o...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 18, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (October 18, 2013) – A convicted felon on parole who tried to murder the parents of a minor he was having a sexual relationship with was sentenced by the Honorable Harriett Chavez today to a term of 45 years in the Arizona Department...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 15, 2013
Prosecuting Attorneys Discuss Unique Challenges Facing Large Urban Areas
WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 15, 2013) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery joined fellow prosecutors from other large jurisdictions in a roundtable discussion in Washing...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 11, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (October 11, 2013) – A man who fatally shot his former girlfriend last year in front of their children in a school parking lot will spend the rest of his life in prison with no eligibility for release. Thomas Lamont Moton (D.O.B. 10/...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 26, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (September 26, 2013) – A violent sexual predator will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars for breaking into a woman’s apartment and violently attacking her in 2007. James Brian Kummer (D.O.B 9/8/1967) was sentence...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 17, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (September 17, 2013) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery issued the following statement regarding today’s jury verdict in State of Arizona vs. Richard Chrisman:
First, I want to thank the members of the jury for their...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 3, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (September 3, 2013) – Nearly six years after a road rage incident that escalated into a fatal shooting, a Maricopa County jury delivered guilty verdicts today against John Chester Stuart (D.O.B. 6/21/1962) for one count each of Secon...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 3, 2013
Partnership with Tempe Marketplace and Desert Ridge Marketplace Focuses on Preventing Future Crimes
PHOENIX, AZ (September 3, 2013) – Valley high school students will compete for a chance to win cash prizes and showcase their filmmaking talents o...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 30, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (August 30, 2013) – Volunteers with the Maricopa County Attorney’s office will kick off the third season of “Friday Night Football Patrol” at Mountain Ridge High School in Glendale this evening, where th...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 16, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (August 16, 2013) – A Valley businessman who sold vehicles for customers but pocketed the money for himself will go to prison for 3.25 years followed by seven years of supervised probation. Stanley Dean Torgerson (D.O.B. 1/7/1946) wa...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 12, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (August 12, 2013) – U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s proposal to reduce the number of non-violent drug offenders who are sent to federal prison aims at a worthy goal yet misses the mark by sidestepping Congress, accordin...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 8, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (August 8, 2013) – Michael David Turley (D.O.B. 3/12/1973) will spend two weeks in jail and two years on supervised probation for devising a dangerous hoax that prompted an emergency response to a suspected terrorist incident. As par...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 7, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (August 7, 2013) - A serial burglar who evaded apprehension for more than a decade has been sentenced to 22.75 years in prison by the Honorable Pamela Svoboda. Robert James Neese (D.O.B. 3/15/53) became known as the “rock burglar&...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 30, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (July 30, 2013) – Twenty-five years after the brutal murder of Eric Rice, his killer has been brought to justice. Steven Michael Humelhans (D.O.B. 8/14/1970) was sentenced to a term of life in prison with the possibility of release a...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 25, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (July 25, 2013) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery has been recognized with a Meritorious Service Award from the Arizona Narcotic Officers Association (ANOA) for his outstanding efforts in support of Arizona Drug Law Enforcem...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 17, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (July 17, 2013) – Arizona law enforcement and criminal justice professionals are partnering to improve the way they investigate and prosecute cases of domestic violence and child abuse at a series of specialized training events prese...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 10, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (July 10, 2013) – Auto thefts in Maricopa County dropped more than 8.5% in 2012, marking the fifth consecutive year of declines, according to the latest data from the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB). In its annual ranking of M...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 1, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (July 1, 2013) – The Maricopa County Attorney and the Phoenix City Clerk each received a copy of a letter and related information regarding allegations of election law violation by a candidate for Phoenix City Council.
Under Arizona C...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 13, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (June 13, 2013) – The National Association of Counties (NACo) has recognized Maricopa County with a 2013 Achievement Award in the category of Criminal Justice and Public Safety for a program that has led to dramatic improvements in t...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 12, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (June 12, 2013) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery announced today that his office will not seek criminal charges against Greg John Winslow (D.O.B. 11/8/1974). Winslow, a former Arizona State University swim coach, was invest...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 30, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (May 30, 2013) – Children will learn useful tips on how to stay safe at home, in public, around the pool and on the internet at Safe Kids Summer 2013, a series of free events held at local shopping malls, public parks and community p...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 23, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (May 23, 2013) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery released the following statement in response to the lack of a unanimous decision in the penalty phase of State v. Jodi Ann Arias:
“We appreciate the jury’s ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 21, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (May 21, 2013) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery issued the following statement in response to today’s ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denying the Arizona legislature from prohibiting abor...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 17, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (May 17, 2013) – Marcos Rene Mendoza (D.O.B. 6/12/1986) is looking at a possible 27-year prison sentence for an argument over personal property that escalated to a fatal shooting. Maricopa County jurors found Mendoza guilty of 2nd De...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 13, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (May 13, 2013) – A drunk driver who led police on a high speed chase and collided with another vehicle, killing an 11 year-old boy, will spend 35 years to life in prison. David Glenn Wiggins (D.O.B. 4/20/1981) was found guilty last M...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 8, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (May 8, 2013) – Crisantos Moroyoqui-Yocupicio (D.O.B. 10/27/1973) has been ordered to serve a term of 14 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for the 2010 stabbing death of Martin Alejandro Cota-Monroy, whose decapitated bo...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 8, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (May 8, 2013) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery issued the following statement on today’s verdict in State v. Jodi Ann Arias:
“Today’s verdict closes the guilt phase of State v. Jodi Ann Arias. H...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 7, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (May 7, 2013) – A prolific thief who broke into homes by smashing doors and windows with a rock faces the prospect of spending the rest of his life behind bars after pleading guilty today in the second of two criminal cases brought a...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 26, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (April 26, 2013) – The Honorable M. Scott McCoy today ordered Eric James Coulter (D.O.B. 10/30/1992) to serve the maximum term of 21-years in prison for fatally shooting his girlfriend with a rifle in 2011, an act he claimed was an a...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 23, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (April 23, 2013) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery will mark this year’s observance of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week by traveling to Washington D.C. to testify in favor of a bi-partisan proposal to ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 19, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (April 19, 2013) – The Honorable William Brotherton imposed a 51.5-year prison sentence today on a serial child sexual predator who also attempted to orchestrate the murder of the law enforcement officers responsible for bringing him...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 19, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (April 19, 2013) – A lengthy criminal career is effectively over today as the Honorable Joseph Kreamer ordered Mike Ruben Alvarez (D.O.B. 6/18/75) to serve a 63-year term in the Arizona Department of Corrections for shooting and inju...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 12, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (April 12, 2013) – Today the Honorable Joseph Kreamer sentenced Rodrigo Romero, Jr. (D.O.B. 1/10/87) to a prison term of natural life plus 102 years for killing a 19 year-old single mother in a 2006 drive-by shooting. Romero was foun...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 10, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (April 10, 2013) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery issued the following statement today regarding recent legislation banning synthetic drugs:
As of April 3, 2013, synthetic versions of marijuana and of ecstasy/cocaine are ban...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 5, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (April 5, 2013) - A team of assessors from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA) will arrive in Phoenix on April 15, 2013 to examine all aspects of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (MCAO) Inv...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 29, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (March 29, 2013) – George Frazey Sanders (D.O.B. 3/24/1927) will serve two years of unsupervised probation for intentionally aiding his 81 year-old wife to commit suicide. The sentence imposed today by the Honorable John Dittsworth f...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 28, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (March 28, 2013) – County Attorney Bill Montgomery praises today’s passage of HB 2327 which effectively bans the specific chemical “backbone” used to make a variety of dangerous designer drugs commonly k...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 18, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (March 18, 2013) – A jury has found Eric James Coulter (D.O.B. 10/30/1992) guilty of Manslaughter for fatally shooting his girlfriend in the head with a military-style assault rifle, an act he claimed was an accident. He faces a poss...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 11, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (March 11, 2013) – County Attorney Bill Montgomery released the following statement in response to today’s immigration protests:
“I support people exercising their First Amendment rights to peaceably assemble and p...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 8, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (March 8, 2013) – After deliberating for less than two hours, a Maricopa County jury has found Brandon Martin Roberts (D.O.B. 8/7/1993) guilty of First Degree Murder for fatally shooting an elderly man who was taking an evening walk ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 1, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (March 1, 2013) – Erik Charles Grumpelt (D.O.B. 9/25/75) has been sentenced to a term of 14 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for recklessly causing the death of his girlfriend, Melinda Raya, in May of 2011. Grumpelt con...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 28, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (February 28, 2013) – After four days of deliberations, a Maricopa County jury has voted unanimously to sentence Joel Escalante Orozco (D.O.B. 1/30/1975) to death for violently killing a young mother in Phoenix in 2001. Orozco fled t...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 27, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (February 27, 2013) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery released the following statement on the decision by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to release several hundred immigrant detainees from deportation centers in Arizon...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 21, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (February 21, 2013) – Phoenix-based PetSmart, Inc., (NASDAQ: PETM), the largest specialty retailer of services and solutions for the lifetime needs of pets, has renewed its commitment to provide financial and material support for the...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 15, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (February 15, 2013) – Joseph J. Sandoval (D.O.B. 8/21/85) will spend the rest of his life in prison for engaging in a lengthy gun battle with police in a Phoenix trailer park in 2011. Today, the Honorable Karen Potts sentenced Sandov...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 15, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (February 15, 2013) – In order to address questions regarding the decision to send the misdemeanor hit-and-run investigation involving Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne to the Phoenix Police Department and the circumstances surround...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 14, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (February 14, 2013) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery has doubled a cash reward offered for information leading to the arrest or indictment of anyone responsible for the fatal shooting of Sandra Johnson which took place on t...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 12, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (February 12, 2013) – Rodrigo Romero, Jr. (D.O.B. 1/10/87) has been found guilty of First Degree Murder and multiple other felonies for killing a 19 year-old single mother in a 2006 drive-by shooting. He faces a possible life term pl...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 8, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (February 8, 2013) – A brutal killing of a young mother that occurred in front of her 2-and-a-half year-old daughter has resulted in an 44-year prison sentence for Victor Abraham Martinez, Jr. (D.O.B 1/12/86). Martinez was sentenced ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 17, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (January 17, 2013) – The Honorable Karen L. O’Connor today sentenced Gary Billy Bivens (D.O.B. 11/21/1958) to a 55-year term in the Arizona Department of Corrections for murdering 93 year-old Martha Winters, a crime that we...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 7, 2013
PHOENIX, AZ (January 7, 2013) - Bill Montgomery was sworn in today to begin his first, full four-year term as the Maricopa County Attorney. After a whirlwind first two years, serving out the remainder of the previous elected County Attorney’s te...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 19, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (December 19, 2012) – Jasper Jay Stewart (D.O.B. 12/16/79) has been sentenced to a term of 18 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections in connection with two separate incidents involving a carjacking and armed robbery. Stewart,...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 19, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (December 19, 2012) – An accused armed robber who later tried to orchestrate the murder of one of his victims has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for his crimes. Shaun Tonge (D.O.B. 6/4/86) will also spend four years on probatio...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 14, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (December 14, 2012) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery praises Governor Jan Brewer’s appointment of Deputy County Attorney Suzanne Cohen to the Maricopa County Superior Court. Cohen has successfully prosecuted numer...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 14, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (December 14, 2012) - A Maricopa County Jury has found Larry Lloyd Carver (D.O.B. 12/1/52) guilty on multiple counts in connection with the 2006 murder of Heather M. Quan and the attempted murder of her boyfriend, Ryan T. Waller. He faces the ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 12, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (December 12, 2012) – Responding to a surge in demand for information, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office handled more than 500 public records requests in 2012, nearly double the number processed the previous year. Reque...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 7, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (December 7, 2012) – Elizabeth Joanne Johnson (D.O.B. 7/24/86) has been ordered to spend 5.25 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for crimes related to the disappearance of her eight month-old son, Gabriel Johnson, who has...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 28, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (November 28, 2012) – Members of the public will be able to shred unneeded documents and safely destroy unused or expired prescription drugs at a free event on Tuesday, December 4, 2012 at Target, 9000 East Indian Bend Road, Scottsda...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 21, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (November 21, 2012) – Mario Chavez-Tavena (D.O.B. 3/23/86) will spend the rest of his life in prison for repeatedly raping and committing other sexual acts with his 10-year-old stepdaughter. Chavez-Tavena was convicted last July on f...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 16, 2012
PHOENIX (November 16, 2012) – Michael John Jakscht (D.O.B. 7/4/63) has been ordered to spend 26 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for killing four people and injuring five others in a March 2010 collision with ten motorcyclists and ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 13, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (November 13, 2012) – Members of the public will be able to safely destroy unneeded documents containing personal information at a free event on Friday, November 16, 2012 at International Paper, 301 South 30th Street, Phoenix 85034. ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 9, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (November 9, 2012) – The Honorable Susan Pineda today sentenced Qui Tu Truong (D.O.B. 11/10/83) to 36 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for a brutal attack that has prompted a call for stricter sentences for violent crim...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 7, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (November 7, 2012) - Convicted murderer William Wayne Macumber (D.O.B. 8/31/35) entered a plea of no contest today to two counts of second degree murder for the 1962 killings of Joyce Sterrenberg and her fiancé Timothy McKillop. Aft...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 1, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (November 1, 2012) – Vehicular crimes prosecutors in the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office will benefit from the latest techniques for investigating fatal and serious injury collisions involving drug impaired drivers thanks...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 26, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (October 26, 2012) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery reminds representatives of international organizations interested in observing upcoming state and federal elections in Arizona that they must comply with state statutes th...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 26, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (October 26, 2012) – A palm print on a beer bottle helped a Maricopa County jury find George Jones (D.O.B. 9/12/57) guilty of the murder of Duane “Bud” Gruette in a case that remained unsolved for 34 years. The mu...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 25, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (October 25, 2012) – Members of the public will be able to safely destroy unused or expired prescription medications as well as unneeded documents containing personal information at a free event on Tuesday, October 30th at Fry&rs...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 22, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (October 22, 2012) – After less than a day of deliberation, a Maricopa County jury today found Joseluis Marquez (D.O.B. 3/17/90) guilty of murdering Kyleigh Sousa while stealing her purse. He faces the possibility of spending 25 year...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 19, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (October 19, 2012) – Maricopa County Attorney William Montgomery issued the following statement in response to yesterday’s verdict in State v. Elizabeth Johnson:
“As I told the community when we embarked on the pro...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 16, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (October 16, 2012) – Members of the public will be able to safely destroy unused or expired prescription medications as well as unneeded documents containing personal information at a free event on Thursday, October 25th, 2012 at Hom...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 10, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (October 10, 2012) – A pilot program to reduce truancy in Maricopa County has produced impressive results for a local elementary school plagued by a high rate of absenteeism. Led by a team of volunteers from the Maricopa County Attor...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 10, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (October 10, 2012) – Maricopa County prosecutors continue to see improvements in their ability to prosecute non-fatal strangulation cases, thanks to new investigatory techniques developed in partnership with local law enforcement age...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 1, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (October 1, 2012) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery is initiating a civil enforcement action against Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne and Kathleen Winn, General Director of Community Outreach for the Attorney General&r...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 26, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (September 26, 2012) – Volunteers from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office will collect unused or unwanted medications from the public on Saturday, September 29th as part of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration&rs...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 17, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (September 17, 2012) – Deputy County Attorney Charity Collins is the recipient of the 2012 Felony Prosecutor of the Year award presented by the Arizona State Organization of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). Charity accepted the ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 14, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (September 14, 2012) – As part of its ongoing commitment to combat identity theft and prescription drug abuse, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office and Shred-It will host a free Shred-A-Thon and Prescription Drug Take-Back...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 6, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (September 6, 2012) – Jerice Hunter (D.O.B.10/13/1973) is currently in custody facing criminal charges for the murder and abuse of her 5 year-old daughter, Jhessye Shockley, who has been missing since last October. Hunter’s...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 31, 2012
PRESS RELEASE BY ARIZONA GOVERNOR'S OFFICE OF HIGHWAY SAFETY
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC-TABOO
THE GOVERNOR’S OFFICE OF HIGHWAY SAFETY IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THE AIRING OF A NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SPECIAL ON ALCOHOL FEATURING ARIZONA LAW ENFORCEMENT.
P...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 29, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (August 29, 2012) - Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery today filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty against Michael Lee Crane (D.O.B. 6/9/1980) if he is convicted for the murder of Bruce Gaudet or either of the murders of Law...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 28, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (August 28, 2012) – Arizona Department of Corrections inmate Marlon C. McCowan (D.O.B. 12/1/1977) faces a possible life sentence after being found guilty yesterday for the 2010 murder of prison inmate Albert Tsosie. McCowan&rsquo...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 24, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (August 24, 2012) – A deadly family argument over a carton of cigarettes has resulted in a 22-year prison sentence for William Kenneth Null (D.O.B. 1/13/70). Judge Daniel Martin today sentenced Null to the maximum term for second deg...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 23, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (August 23, 2012) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery and Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne are each filing separate motions for summary judgment in Superior Court today seeking to resolve conflicting issues raised by the Ari...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 22, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (August 22, 2012) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery will kick off the second annual “Friday Night Football Patrol” at Desert Ridge High School in Mesa on August 24th, 2012 to encourage teens to stay off d...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 22, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (August 22, 2012) – In response to multiple public complaints about fraudulent collection agencies, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery today warned citizens not to respond to telephone solicitations and threats from individuals...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 15, 2012
PHOENIX (August 15, 2012) – After three days of deliberation, a Maricopa County jury has found Michael John Jakscht (D.O.B. 7/4/63) guilty of manslaughter, aggravated assault and endangerment for killing four people and injuring five others in a...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 8, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (August 8, 2012) – Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Karen Potts today sentenced Michael Andrew Cerise (D.O.B. 8/2/65) to spend 90 days in jail followed by three years of supervised probation for pointing a laser at two commercial...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 30, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (July 30, 2012) – Convicted murderers will now be required to serve longer prison sentences for certain first and second degree murder convictions thanks to changes to state sentencing statutes enacted in Arizona’s last legislative session. HB...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 27, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (July 27, 2012) – A Maricopa County Grand Jury has charged Cordell Lamar Jude (D.O.B. 1/10/90) with one count of 2nd degree murder for the April 2012 shooting death of Daniel Adkins. Jude was served with the indictment this morning. He will be...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 29, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (June 29, 2012) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery released the following statement on the recent attack on a Phoenix Police Officer by a suspect who was in the United States illegally:
“On June 26, 2012, a Phoenix P...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 25, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (June 25, 2012) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery released the following statement today on the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on SB 1070:
Earlier this month, the President played election year politics, pandering with...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 22, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (June 22, 2012) - A federal court today granted Maricopa County’s motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit brought by SB 1070 protester Sunita Patel. In a seven-page order, U.S. District Judge Neil V. Wake ruled that Maricopa County ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 15, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (June 15, 2012) – As part of its ongoing commitment to combat identity theft, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is partnering with Shred-It to offer a free Shred-A-Thon and Prescription Drug Take-Back on Thursday, June ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 14, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (June 14, 2012) – Justin Lee Martin (D.O.B. 3/12/77) has been ordered to serve a 125 year term in the Arizona Department of Corrections for committing a series of home invasions with his uncle in the Town of Paradise Valley in 2009. ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 13, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (June 13, 2012) – Victims of fraudulent divorce attorney Gary Jay Karpin will soon receive court ordered restitution payments for the economic losses they suffered as a result of his crimes. Karpin was found guilty in October 2008 on...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 8, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (June 8, 2012) – A new approach to investigating cases of alleged strangulation in Maricopa County promises to greatly improve the ability to hold perpetrators accountable, according to the results of a pilot program released today. ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 31, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (May 31, 2012) – A former Wells Fargo branch manager in Phoenix has been arrested and charged with making fraudulent computer entries and altering documents to conceal more than $1.7 million in missing funds. Following her arrest, Li...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 29, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (May 29, 2012) – Prosecutors in the Vehicular Crimes Bureau of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office will soon be using laptop and tablet computers to improve the overall quality of trial presentations, thanks to a grant fr...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 23, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (May 23, 2012) – After a nine-day trial and less than a day of deliberations, a Maricopa County jury has found Nadia Bashir (D.O.B. 9/26/66) guilty of negligent homicide and child abuse in connection with the 2009 drowning death of h...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 17, 2012
In response to today’s guilty verdicts in State v. Tammi Peters Smith, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery released the following statement:
“Today’s verdicts are just the latest step in our efforts to seek justice for Ga...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 17, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (May 17, 2012) – Major retailers in Arizona are teaming up with local law enforcement agencies on a new strategy to fight organized retail crime. Using a secure website developed by the Arizona Organized Retail Crime Alliance (AZORCA...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 11, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (May 11, 2012) – Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Robert Gottsfield today sentenced Stephen Bernard Young (D.O.B. 9/17/59) to a 42-year term in the Arizona Department of Corrections for a string of bank and armored car robberies ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 10, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (May 10, 2012) – A long history of fraud, forgery and theft finally caught up with Gerald Calmese (D.O.B. 1/7/67) when Judge Daniel G. Martin sentenced him to serve a term of 30 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for stea...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 1, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (May 1, 2012) – Wilyie Louis McCarty (D.O.B. 9/28/81) will spend 10 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for three sexual assaults that took place in 1996 and 1997. He will remain on lifetime probation under sexual offender...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 30, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (April 30, 2012) – A decade after his conviction, Steven William Dyer (D.O.B. 4/7/67) has been sentenced to serve 240 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for sexually assaulting two young boys in 2000 and 2001. Dyer fled t...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 30, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (April 30, 2012) – Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Susanna Pineda has sentenced David Roy Eidson (D.O.B. 10/18/61) to a term of 24.5 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for murdering David Wile in 2010 and concealing ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 23, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (April 23, 2012) – Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Susanna Pineda has sentenced Anthony Robert Dose (D.O.B. 8/1/85) to spend the rest of his life in prison for killing a motorist with his car while attempting to flee Mesa police...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 23, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (April 23, 2012) – Phoenix-based PetSmart, Inc., (NASDAQ: PETM) the largest specialty retailer of services and solutions for the lifetime needs of pets, is now the official corporate partner for the Maricopa County Attorney&rsquo...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 23, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (April 23, 2012) – In honor of crime victims and in celebration of the progress in advancing their rights, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer proclaims April 22-28 to be Arizona Crime Victims’ Rights Week, joining a nationwide eff...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 20, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (April 20, 2012) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery will trade his suit and tie for running gear to participate in Pat’s Run on Saturday April 21, 2012. Held annually at Arizona State University’s Sun Devi...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 4, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (April 4, 2012) - Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Warren Granville today sentenced Joe Sauceda Gallegos (D.O.B. 4/19/72) to two natural life terms in the Arizona Department of Corrections for brutally beating two young boys to death in 20...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 27, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (March 27, 2012) - David Mark Buot (D.O.B. 5/12/68) has been sentenced by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Robert Miles to a term of 22 calendar years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for deliberately driving his car into oncoming ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 22, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (March 22, 2012) – Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Lisa Flores today sentenced Brandon Keith Jones (D.O.B. 7/20/84) to 35 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for repeatedly molesting his nephew and two other children,...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 20, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (March 20, 2012) – As part of its ongoing commitment to combat identity theft, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is partnering with Shred-It to offer a free Shred-A-Thon on Thursday, March 29th, 2012 at Westbrook Villag...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 13, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (March 13, 2012) - In light of recent reports of the possibility of individuals engaged in the production of pornography moving to Arizona from California, the Maricopa County Attorney issued the following statement:
Under Arizona law, anyone p...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 7, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (March 7, 2012) – Members of the public will be able to shred documents, recycle electronic devices and turn in unneeded prescription drugs at a free event on Wednesday, March 14th, 2012 in front of Marketplace At Central Plaza, 115 ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 2, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (March 2, 2012) – Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Douglas Rayes has sentenced Miguel Angel Sanchez (D.O.B. 2/20/85) to spend the rest of his life in prison for robbing and murdering Paul Kaptiz in 2009. Sanchez avoided a possibl...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 1, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (March 1, 2012) - Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Roger Brodman has sentenced Nathan Wayne King (D.O.B. 2/18/80) to serve two concurrent thirteen-year prison terms for the 2008 murders of Shaun T. Naylor and Gregory S. Mitchell. King agre...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 28, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (February 28, 2012) - Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery will participate in the Service Academy Alumni of Arizona (SAAA) 2012 Ethics Forum, which will be held on March 2nd, 2012 at the East Valley institute of Technology. This annual ev...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 27, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (February 27, 2012) – Henry Eric Young (DOB 11/4/69) is ordered to spend the next two decades in prison for brutally beating and nearly killing 81 year-old Gene Fitzsimmons. Judge Susan Brnovich sentenced Young today to serve 15 year...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 21, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (February 21, 2012) - Calling all student filmmakers! The Maricopa County Attorney invites you to enter the “My Message” video contest for a chance to win a new Apple MacBook® Pro and $500 in Apple merchandise. Open...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 17, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (February 17, 2012) - Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery applauds Governor Jan Brewer for signing House Bill 2356, which outlaws a category of over-the-counter drugs commonly known as “bath salts.” Sponsored by Repres...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 16, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (February 16, 2012) – After three days of deliberations, a Maricopa County Jury has found Haider Abdullah (D.O.B. 2/25/70) guilty of two counts of First Degree Murder for the 2009 shooting deaths of Ayad Mizel and Mohammad Mzeal. Abd...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 15, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (February 15, 2012) – A Maricopa County Grand Jury has charged Michael Lee Crane (D.O.B. 6/9/80) with two counts of First Degree Murder for causing the January 30th, 2012 deaths of Lawrence and Glenna Shapiro. The same 15-count indic...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 13, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (February 13, 2012) – As part of its ongoing commitment to combat identity theft, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is partnering with Shred-It to offer a free Shred-A-Thon on Thursday, February 16th, 2012 at Sam&rs...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 2, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (February 2, 2012) – Chad Michael Goulding (D.O.B. 9/30/1970) has been found guilty on multiple counts of armed robbery, theft and kidnapping in connection with a string of bank robberies that took place during a five month period in...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 27, 2017
PHOENIX, AZ (January 31, 2012) – The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office today mourns the untimely loss of retired State Supreme Court Justice and former colleague Mike Ryan, who dedicated more than three decades of exemplary public serv...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 23, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (January 23, 2012) - The Maricopa County Attorney will seek the death penalty against John “Bud” Allen (D.O.B. 7/19/88) and Samantha Allen (D.O.B. 6/14/88), both of whom are accused of murdering 10 year-old Ame Deal by lock...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 19, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (January 19, 2012) – As part of its ongoing commitment to combat identity theft, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is partnering with Shred-It to offer a free Shred-A-Thon on Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 in front of Cabe...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 17, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (January 17, 2012) - The Alvarado family of Phoenix will get the keys to a beautiful new, environmentally-friendly home today, built on the site of a house that had been a magnet for criminal activity and an eyesore to the neighborhood. At a c...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 5, 2012
PHOENIX, AZ (January 5, 2012) – Arizona has prevented more than a million crimes since 1994 by incarcerating its most dangerous criminals, according to a major research study released today. Titled Prisoners in Arizona: Truth-in-Sentencing, Time...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 21, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (December 21, 2011) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery announced the conclusion of an 8-month criminal investigation into whether public officials illegally accepted or failed to report gifts from members of the Fiesta Bowl o...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 16, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (December 16, 2011) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery is asking the U.S. Department of Justice for additional information from its Civil Rights Division regarding any alleged civil rights violations by the Maricopa County Sh...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 6, 2011
(PHOENIX, AZ) December 6, 2011 – As part of its ongoing commitment to combat identity theft, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is partnering with the Scottsdale Police Department, Salt River Police Department and the Shred-It compa...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 30, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (November 30, 2011) – A Maricopa County Jury today sentenced Mark Goudeau to death for nine murders committed during a nearly year-long crime spree that also involved multiple kidnappings, armed robberies and violent assaults. The se...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 21, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (November 21, 2011) – A lifelong fraud artist will spend the next 16 years in prison according to a sentence handed down by Judge Warren Granville. Jeffrey Allen Herald (D.O.B. 6/26/58) pled guilty to five class 2 felony counts of Fr...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 15, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (November 15, 2011) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, who serves as Chairman of The Arizona Child Safety Task Force, is asking members of the public to provide input on Arizona’s Child Protection System, including...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 15, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (November 15, 2011) – After five days of deliberation, a Maricopa County jury has found Jeffrey R. Martinson (D.O.B. 11/12/1966) guilty of abusing and murdering his five year-old son, Joshua Eberle Martinson in 2004. The jury will no...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 4, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (November 4, 2011) – An attempt to smuggle eight illegal aliens into Arizona has resulted in a guilty verdict for Guadalupe Garcia-Corral (D.O.B. 1/8/72), who was apprehended while driving the group to Flagstaff earlier this year. He...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 28, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (October 28, 2011) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery confirms his office will pursue the case against the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission following today’s Superior Court ruling disqualifying the Attor...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 24, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (October 24, 2011) – On Saturday, October 29 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. members of the public will have an opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by dropping off potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 21, 2011
PHOENIX , AZ (October 21, 2011) – Judge William Brotherton sentenced Kevin Gerster (D.O.B. 10/23/75) today to serve one year in jail followed by two years of supervised probation for assaulting two inmates and illegally accessing and sharing cri...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 12, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (October 12, 2011) – A Maricopa County Grand Jury has charged Daniel Alexander Lopez (D.O.B. 5/13/1993) with one class 6 felony count of Aggravated Criminal Damage and one class 5 felony count of Criminal Damage for allegedly committ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: October 3, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (October 3, 2011) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery today announced the appointment of noted victims’ rights advocate John W. Gillis as the new Chief of the County Attorney’s Victim Services Division. Gil...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 21, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (September 21, 2011) – His spray-painted moniker, “MAWD,” defaced at least 300 structures throughout the Phoenix metro area, making William Barajas (DOB: 3/10/91) the city’s #1 graffiti vandal -- and ear...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 20, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (September 20, 2011) – Nine members of a criminal syndicate uncovered by Scottsdale Police and convicted of trafficking in stolen identities will spend a total of more than 107 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections. The grou...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 14, 2011
(PHOENIX, AZ) September 14, 2011 – As part of its ongoing commitment to combat identity theft, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is partnering with the Shred-It company to offer a series of Shred-A-Thons throughout the Valley where...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 14, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (September 14, 2011) An organized group of retail rip-off crews that targeted major shopping malls, outlet stores and strip centers throughout the Phoenix metropolitan area is now out of operation, thanks to a cooperative enforcement action by...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 13, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (September 13, 2011) - Jesus Briseno (DOB: 8/7/1982) is on his way to the Arizona Department of Corrections for 30 years for causing a September 5, 2009 collision that killed two near the 3500 block of West Grand Avenue.
Briseno was driving a C...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: September 8, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (September 8, 2011) – A six-month investigation by Phoenix Police has resulted in the arrest and indictment of 18 individuals connected to the Phoenix Goddess Temple, a suspected house of prostitution operating under the pretense of ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 29, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (August 29, 2011) – It took a jury less than three hours to reach guilty verdicts today in the trial of William Craig Miller (D.O.B 3/24/77), accused of murdering five family members in Mesa in an apparent effort to eliminate witness...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 26, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (August 26, 2011) - James Stark (DOB 4/12/1953) was sentenced today to 7-consecutive life sentences to be followed by an additional 102.5 years in prison.
The Buckeye Police Department investigation led by Det. Joseph Kirby indicated defendant ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 26, 2011
Attempted to Murder Estranged Wife in Front of 12-year old Daughter
PHOENIX, AZ (August 26, 2011) - Robert T. Jones, (DOB: 11/13/1973) tried to shoot the victim in the head 3-times while telling the 12-year old daughter “this is what your mom get...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 25, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (August 25, 2011) - Last week a Maricopa County Superior Court declared a mistrial in the case of State v. Michael Jakscht after a jury was unable to reach a verdict.
This week, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery met with prosecutors to r...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 22, 2011
Friday Night Football Patrol Tells Teens: You Use, You Lose
PHOENIX, AZ (August 22, 2011) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery will encourage teenagers to sign a pledge to stay drug-free as part of an extensive public awareness campaign kno...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 19, 2011
A Maricopa County Grand Jury has indicted 23-year old Summer Dawn Angelly and her boyfriend 28 year old Jasen C. Anchondo in connection with the near drowning of 11-month old Jay Anchondo on August 5th.
Angelly and Anchondo are charged with one count each ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 19, 2011
On February 12, 2011 a gunman shot and killed 19-year old Sir Xavier Brooks at the Leonardo’s Da Vinci Code club in Chandler. The shooting took place in the midst of a fight outside the club.
Orlando Nembhard was arrested and later charged with t...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 16, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (August 16, 2011) – After two trials, a jury today found Brittany J. Williams (D.O.B. 12/31/85) guilty of second degree murder for dumping her newborn infant into a trash bin last year and allowing the child to die. She faces a possi...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 15, 2011
February 2010 Vehicular Homicide Killed ASU Student
PHOENIX, AZ (August 15, 2011) - What began as a midnight beer run last year ended minutes later in a car crash that killed 27 year-old Abel Abebe, an Arizona State University Pharmacy student.
Last week, a...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 10, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (August 10, 2011) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery announces the indictment of four adult relatives of 10 year-old Ame Deal, who died after being locked inside a plastic storage box. Named in a Maricopa County Grand Jury in...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: August 10, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (August 10, 2011) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery says his office will seek the death penalty against Jose Luis Gonzalez-Dominguez (D.O.B. 2/27/90), who faces First Degree Murder and felony Child Abuse charges for the deat...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 29, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (July 29, 2011) – Six individuals are facing multiple felony charges including fraud, identity theft, computer tampering and money laundering for allegedly stealing financial information from unsuspecting customers at TruWest Credit ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 28, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (July 28, 2011) – The Civil Services Division of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office announces that Ford Motor Company has paid a $225,000 penalty for illegally constructing a test track at its Arizona Proving Grounds in ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 27, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (July 27, 2011) – The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has successfully recovered more than a million dollars in restitution from bad check writers in the last 12 months. These funds were obtained by the County Attorney&am...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 19, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (July 19, 2011) - Contrary to media reports, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has not charged Yukari Miyamae with any offense in connection with a recent incident involving a TSA agent at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. After initia...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 14, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (July 14, 2011) - The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors today approved a motion authorizing County Attorney Bill Montgomery to intervene as co-plaintiffs in the State of Arizona’s recently filed federal lawsuit seeking a declarato...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: July 6, 2011
(PHOENIX, AZ) July 6, 2011 – Gary Thomas Kelley, 51 ( DOB: 08/16/1959 ) has been sentenced for the Second Degree Murder of a neighbor Juan Varela and Aggravated Assault on Juan’s brother Antonio.
The incident took place on May 6th, 2010...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 30, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (June 30, 2011) – Justin Wade Lunsford (D.O.B. 11/30/81) will spend the next 23 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for brutally murdering Mary Polgar in 2008 and setting her residence and vehicle on fire in an attempt to ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 27, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (June 27, 2011) – Judge Daniel G. Martin today sentenced Qadir Al-Amin, a.k.a. Rudolpho Dominguez Osorio (D.O.B. 7/2/1979), to 142 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for the 2008 murder of Melissa Vigil. She was killed on...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 22, 2011
More than $1,000,000 Paid to Victims by Clerk of Superior Court
(PHOENIX, AZ) June 22, 2010 – The National Association of Counties (NACo) has awarded the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office a 2011 NACo Achievement Award for its Crime Vict...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 7, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (June 7, 2011) – A successful multi-agency investigation initiated by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office resulted today in the arrest and indictment of more than sixty (60) Arizona prison and jail gang members on multiple felony criminal cha...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: June 1, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (June 1, 2011) – Drug abuse, child abduction and identity theft are just three of the serious crimes people will learn how to prevent at the upcoming 2011 Citizen Safety Forum & Expo in Mesa. Presented by the Maricopa County Atto...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 26, 2011
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery issued a formal opinion to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors today advising the Board to refrain from taking steps to implement Arizona’s Medical Marijuana Act until an apparent conflict with feder...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 18, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (May 18, 2011) – An effort to prove the innocence of convicted sex offender Timothy Roosevelt Boles (DOB 6/29/59) has instead confirmed his guilt and linked him to a previously unsolved case of child sexual abuse from 1991. Boles, wh...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 16, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (May 16, 2011) – William Barajas (DOB 3/10/1991) has been arrested by Phoenix Police and charged with one class 4 felony count of aggravated criminal damage and one class 5 aggregated count of criminal damage for numerous graffiti cr...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 12, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (May 12, 2011) – Erin Otis, a prosecutor in the Sex Crimes Bureau of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, has been honored with the second annual Paladin Award by Streetlight Phoenix, a residential treatment facility for ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 9, 2011
(PHOENIX, AZ) May 9, 2011 – Valley residents can protect themselves from identity thieves by destroying canceled checks, old tax returns and other unneeded financial documents at a free, daylong Shred-A-Thon hosted by ABC 15 and the Maricopa Cou...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 11, 2011
Drug abuse, child abduction and identity theft are just three of the serious crimes people will learn how to prevent at the 2011 Citizen Safety Forum & Expo.
In addition to classes on protecting yourself from violent crime and property crime, the Citiz...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 4, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (May 4, 2011) - Joseph John Viola (DOB: 5/2/1951) has been sentenced by Superior Court Judge Daniel G. Martin to serve 36 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for engaging in fraudulent schemes (CR90-010323). The sentence was lengthy...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: May 3, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (May 3, 2011) – A Maricopa County Grand Jury has charged Stanley Dean Torgerson with multiple counts of fraud and theft for selling vehicles for customers and failing to give them the proceeds. Torgerson, who owns International Car A...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 27, 2011
Passage caps successful legislative agenda for County Attorney’s Office
PHOENIX, AZ (April 27, 2011) - Criminal defendants with mental illness in Arizona will no longer be able to slip unnoticed back into the community thanks to a recently passed...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 25, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (April 25, 2011) – A jury today found Christopher Benitez (DOB 5/5/83) guilty of one count of negligent homicide, one count of arson of an occupied structure and one count of arson of a structure or property in connection with a 2001...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 15, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (April 15, 2011) – Judge Roland J. Steinle today sentenced Faleh Hassan Almaleki (DOB 1/1/1961) to serve 34½ years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for killing his daughter, Noor Almaleki, and seriously injuring Am...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 11, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (April 11, 2011) – Recently approved legislation that substantially toughens penalties for organizers of major human smuggling rings will have a significant impact on efforts to shut down these criminal operations, according to Maric...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 8, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (April 8, 2011) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery hailed the recent passage of two pieces of legislation that strengthen existing laws against people who sexually exploit children. HB 2438, sponsored by State Representative ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 7, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (April 7, 2011) – A jury has found Christopher Robert Youngs (DOB 8/4/1949) guilty on ten class 2 felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor in connection with a planned cross-country spree of sadistic sexual acts against childr...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 7, 2011
MEDIA RELEASE BY THE TEMPE POLICE DEPARTMENT
After a nearly three week trial, 39 year old Daniel Gukeisen was found guilty of Manslaughter in the vicious stabbing death of 22 year old Garrett Hohn.
On September 26th, 2008 at approximately 2:00 AM, the Tempe...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: April 6, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (April 6, 2011) – Judge Sally Duncan Schneider has sentenced Jesus Lopez-Moreno (DOB 11/13/86) to a total of 134 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for committing a violent home invasion, robbery and rape, as well as an a...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 31, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (March 31, 2011) – Judge Janet E. Barton has found Diane Lynn Habener (DOB 12/31/47) guilty on nine counts of animal cruelty in connection with a pet adoption business she operated out of two residences in Phoenix. Habener, owner of ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 30, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (March 30, 2011) - Superior Court Judge John R. Hannah today dismissed a complaint accusing Maricopa County Superintendent of Schools Donald Covey of illegally cancelling a special election to fill a vacant board seat on the Peoria Unified Sch...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 30, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (March 30, 2011) – The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors today approved the creation of a new Civil Services Division within the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office by transferring to the County Attorney the resources and ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 29, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (March 29, 2011) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery commends the ongoing efforts by the City of Phoenix to ensure that victims of crime are accorded the dignity, respect and services to which they are entitled under Arizona&a...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 25, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (March 25, 2011) – Judge Michael Kemp today sentenced Steven Jo Landrum (DOB 9/20/1986) to spend 11 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for causing an auto accident while driving under the influence of alcohol which result...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 23, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (March 23, 2011) - Humelio Dominguez-Vazquez (DOB 5/25/1977), Christopher Joseph Lopez (DOB 9/9/1973) and Juanita Trevino Rodriguez (3/2/1967) have been charged with multiple felony counts of child abuse in connection with the death of Juanita...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 18, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (March 18, 2011) – Jeremias Joel Aguilar (DOB 2/26/1988) was sentenced today by Judge Robert Gottsfield to serve 25 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for the homicide of 2½ year-old Selena Talevera who died fr...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 14, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (March 14, 2011) – Judge Robert Gottsfield has imposed two consecutive natural life prison terms on Josef Alexander Arvallo (DOB 6/18/82) for the murders of Steven Leonard and Samuel Hixon. After a hung jury in December 2008, Arvallo...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 9, 2011
A Bad Check Doesn’t Have to Mean Bad News
PHOENIX, AZ (March 9, 2011) – It is a crime in Arizona to knowingly write a bad check, and it is one of the many ways thieves attempt to make a dishonest living. Fortunately, there is a place vi...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: March 2, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (March 2, 2011) – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery today announced the indictment of Wylie McCarty (DOB 9/28/81) in connection with three previously unsolved sex crimes that took place in 1996 and 1997. McCarty was identified...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 25, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (February 25, 2011) - The Scottsdale Police Department, working with fraud investigators from eBay, Home Depot and Walmart, along with several other members of the Arizona Electronic Crimes Task Force, including the Maricopa County Attorney&am...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 18, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (February 18, 2011) – Judge Susanna Pineda today found Justin Richard Sobolik (DOB 12/24/81) guilty of one felony count of child abuse and one felony count of first degree murder in connection with the death of 7-month old Logan Balk...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 17, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (February 17, 2011) – Three prosecutors in the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office have been honored by the Arizona chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) for their success in prosecuting individuals charged with dri...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 12, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (February 15, 2011) – Jack Mizer (DOB 2/5/1953) has been sentenced to serve two consecutive 10-year terms in the Arizona Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to two cases involving four felony counts of driving under the i...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: February 11, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (February 11, 2011) – Judge Paul McMurdie today sentenced William Lewis Riedel (DOB 5/19/1964) to serve 35 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections followed by lifetime probation for multiple sex crimes involving the 13 year-ol...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 28, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (January 28, 2011) – James Michael Wren (DOB 3/23/87) will serve one-and-a-half years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for attempting to steal thousands of dollars in cash from an undercover police officer posing as a drug de...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 10, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (January 20, 2011) – A commercially available drug that mimics the active ingredient in marijuana will be illegal in Arizona under a proposed law sponsored by State Representative Amanda Reeve (R – LD6). The drug is sprayed...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 19, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (January 19, 2011) – State Representative Ted Vogt (R – LD30) has proposed legislation that substantially toughens penalties for organizers of major human smuggling rings. Under current law, an operator of multiple “drop houses” faces the same...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 13, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (January 13, 2011) – Dusty Roe Curry (DOB 2/19/1973) will serve multiple prison sentences for kidnapping and robbing a victim at gunpoint. Curry was sentenced Wednesday by Judge Daniel Martin to serve 12 years in the Arizona Departme...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: January 10, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ (January 10, 2011) - Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery issued the following statement today:
The tragic shootings in Tucson this past weekend have prompted understandable outrage and strong emotions. Nonetheless, it is a gross disservice...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 28, 2010
The following Opinion piece appeared in The Arizona Republic on December 28, 2010 with the following signatories:
Bill Montgomery, Maricopa County AttorneyDaisy Flores, Gila County AttorneySheila Polk, Yavapai County AttorneyCarlyon, Navajo County Attorney...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 17, 2010
PHOENIX, AZ (December 17, 2010) - County Attorney Bill Montgomery and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors are pleased to announce that they have reached an agreement on an appropriate framework for promptly resolving the conflicts of interest created...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 16, 2010
PHOENIX, AZ (December 16, 2010) – Thanks to excellent policy development and flawless file maintenance, the Investigations Division of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has been named a Flagship Agency by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforc...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 14, 2010
PHOENIX, AZ (December 14, 2010) – Defendant Jacob Israel Randles (DOB 3/3/1976) has been found guilty on all twelve felony counts in connection with two violent incidents involving sexual assault and kidnapping. He faces a minimum prison sentence of 94 ½ ...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 13, 2010
PHOENIX, AZ (December 13, 2010) – Jorge Alberto Busso Jr. (DOB 6/1/1987) has been charged with first degree murder and three counts of felony child abuse in connection with the death of four year-old Ramon Alejandro Haro Colin. Busso, who is in the countr...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 10, 2010
PHOENIX, AZ (December 10, 2010) – Former Maricopa County Sheriff’s Detention Officer Kevin Michael Gerster (DOB 10/23/1975) has been charged with a total of five counts of aggravated assault and two counts of computer tampering in connection with three di...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 9, 2010
PHOENIX, AZ (December 9, 2010) – Former Phoenix Police Officer Chad Michael Goulding (DOB 9/30/1970) has been arrested and charged with carrying out five Phoenix area bank robberies during a five month period in 2006. Goulding, who left the Phoenix Police...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 2, 2010
More than $500,000 Paid to Victims by Clerk of Superior Court
(PHOENIX, AZ) December 2, 2010 – The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office announced today that its Investigations Division has located 1,759 crime victims over the last six months, making it possib...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: December 1, 2010
(PHOENIX, AZ) December 1st, 2010 – Joel Delgado (DOB 8/16/83) has been sentenced to one year in prison followed by four years of supervised probation for recklessly defacing and damaging property throughout the Phoenix metro area by inscribing on public a...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 30, 2010
PHOENIX, AZ (November 30, 2010) - Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery today announced the creation of a Self- Defense Review Committee to evaluate specific cases involving the unlawful discharge of firearms, the defensive display of a weapon, and inc...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 29, 2010
(PHOENIX, AZ) November 29, 2010 – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery is commemorating the twentieth anniversary of Arizona’s Victims’ Bill of Rights today by reiterating his commitment to be a strong advocate for victims of crime and to support vigi...
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MCAO News Releases
Posted on: November 22, 2010
(PHOENIX, AZ) November 22, 2010 – Bill Montgomery was formally sworn in as Maricopa County Attorney this morning in a brief ceremony held in the Board of Supervisors Auditorium. Following the official canvass of the November 2nd General Election results, ...
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MCAO News Releases