Cop Shop

While a family slept early Thursday morning in their
Mesa apartment, three intruders kicked down the door, bound the father with duct tape, held the family at gunpoint and stole cash and the keys to a car.

Police said the home invasion occurred at

and that the robbers weren’t caught. The family didn’t recognize the men. No one was injured.

The intruders are described as Hispanic and 5 feet 5 inches to 5 feet 6 inches with short black hair.

A Mesa man who claimed to be robbed of his rent money at gunpoint decided he didn’t want to prosecute Thursday, even after Mesa police found a suspect.
According to a Mesa police summary of the incident, officers responded to a call of people pointing rifles at a victim in a parking lot at 2000 North Hunt Circle about 9 p.m.
They found a hysterical, Spanish-speaking woman with four children who said several men and possibly a woman kidnapped her husband.
After extensive investigation, police learned that the husband had returned home.
The man said he had been kidnapped at gunpoint, taken to his apartment, forced to hand over his rent and taken to Loop 101 and Dobson Road, where he was released.
The man said he walked home from there. The man said he wouldn’t cooperate with a prosecution after police found a suspect.

A well-traveled Tempe street has been reopened to traffic following two incidents that forced its closure.

McClintock Road between Rio Salado Parkway and Apache Boulevard was closed for more than six hours due to a power outage and a leaking gas main. The barricades came down around 4 p.m.

City traffic statistics shows that stretch of McClintock is traveled by about 35,000 vehicles daily.

According to Tempe police spokesman Brandon Banks, the trouble began at 9:45 a.m. Within a five-minute span, construction workers at McClintock and Rio Salado accidentally cut a power line, which shut off traffic lights at that intersection, and a gas main ruptured less than a mile to the south, at McClintock and Don Carlos Avenue.

The proximity in time and location aided authorities in shutting down McClintock, Banks said, although it created serious traffic snarls.

A Mesa Wal-Mart employee was nearly run over Thursday when a shoplifter drove a truck toward the employee before fleeing.

The incident occurred about 2 p.m. at a Wal-Mart located near Country Club and Baseline roads.

Police didn’t catch the suspect. A description wasn’t immediately available.

Police said the shoplifter stole baby formula.

Police arrested two men early Thursday on suspicion of stealing large brass rings from a Tempe business called Anterior Design.

Pablo Munoz, 26, and Joseph Flores, 45, were booked into Tempe City Jail, police said. Officers also said the men were in possession of burglary tools and methamphetamine.

Munoz and Flores were arrested about 12:13 a.m. after an officer spotted two men removing the brass rings at 2333 W. University Drive.

Two teens were robbed by an armed suspect near downtown Mesa on Wednesday night.

Police said the victims were walking in the 200 block of North Drew before 9 p.m. when the suspect confronted them, said he was a “Compton Crip” and demanded their cellphones. The victims were wearing red clothing, but denied any gang affiliation.

The suspect was described as a 17-year-old black male with short, curly hair, 5-foot-9 in height and weighing 230 pounds. A black handgun was seen, but it was never pointed at either victim.

The FBI is looking for a ski-masked and armed man who recently robbed two East Valley banks.

According to authorities, the suspect is a white male, about 5-foot-9 to 5-foot-0 with a skinny build. He wore a black ski mask, long-sleeve blue shirt and dark gloves. 

His getaway vehicle is described as a newer model, dark grey Nissan sedan, possibly an Altima, with tinted windows. The license plate was removed during the robberies. 

The FBI believes the subject may live and/or work near the area of Chandler, Gilbert and Mesa bordered by Southern Avenue and Warner Road, Loop 101 and Stapley Drive.

On Nov. 20, the man robbed a Chandler branch of Washington Mutual Bank. Last Saturday, he hit a Wachovia Bank branch on Alma School Drive in Mesa.

In both robberies, the suspect displayed a dark semi-automatic handgun to the tellers and demanded money.

Anyone with information concerning these robberies or suspect is encouraged to contact the Phoenix office of the FBI at (602) 279-5511, or their local authorities.

A Mesa police officer used a special driving manuever to stop suspects who were fleeing in a stolen car Wednesday.
According to a Mesa police summary of the incident, an officer found a stolen truck about 7 p.m. in the 1000 block of South MacDonald and followed it to Pasadena Circle and Broadway Road, where he and other officers tried to make a traffic stop.
The truck took off and hit a car stopped in the turn lane on Broadway Road.
An officer stayed on the truck’s tail to Pomeroy, where the truck’s driver swerved into the patrol car as the officer positioned himself for a Precision Immobilization Technique, or PIT maneuver.
PIT is when an officer uses the front end of the police car to drive into the rear panel of the suspect car and causing it to spin, said Detective Chris Arvayo, Mesa police spokesman.
The officer managed to use the technique on the truck. Another officer came up and boxed in the truck.
The suspects were arrested and booked on charges of aggravated DUI, aggravated assault on police and auto theft.

A Veteran’s Day parade float built by state prison workers and inmates once again took first prize.

The Arizona Department of Corrections’ entry won the Ben Jefferson Pride award at the 11^th annual Phoenix Veterans Day Parade and placed second in the non-profit float category.

The award, named after the first parade chairman, is presented to the entry that most exemplifies the spirit of patriotism, spirit of cooperation in the parade itself, and the spirit of honoring veterans.

The float “ADC Staff Serving Our Country and State with Distinction” was designed and constructed at Arizona State Prison Complex- Lewis in Buckeye.

This is the third straight year the department has entered a float in the Veterans Day parade, and in each of these three years has been recognized.  In 2005, ADC received the third place trophy and last year, the float “Champions of Freedom” placed first.