Cop Shop

A mother discovered she had left her 2-month-old daughter inside her car after Phoenix fire crews brought the child inside a Food City where the mother was in line paying for groceries.

Sgt. Andy Hill of Phoenix police said an anonymous 911 call around 2:20 p.m. led fire crews to a child inside a white four door car in a shopping center at 43rd Avenue and Thomas Road. Once fire crews broke the window to reach the unresponsive child, CPR was performed and the infant began to breathe again. She is currently in stable condition at a local hospital.

According to Hill, the baby was moved inside the Food City to cool down and the 25-year-old mother recognized the child after coming over to emergency crews.

The infant’s mother told police she did not realize she had left the baby behind, Hill said. Moments before she stopped for groceries, she dropped off the child’s grandmother and a 4-year-old child in another shopping complex and claimed she forgot about the infant.

Police are investigating possible charges of child abuse, Hill said.

A Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputy attempting to stop a speeding driver Saturday clipped another vehicle and caused it to crash, authorities said.

The incident happened near the intersection of Hunt Highway and Granite Reef Dam Road about 12:30 p.m., closing Hunt Highway for several hours for the investigation, said MCSO spokesman Doug Matteson.

The deputy struck the rear of a passerby’s vehicle causing the blue Ford truck to crash, Matteson said. Driver Anne Middents, 20, of Tempe was taken to a nearby hospital with minor injuries, Matteson said.

The deputy was not injured.

Middents vehicle was not speeding at the time the deputy was attempting to go after the speeding suspect.

According to official reports, the deputy was driving southbound on Hunt Highway and was passed by a car going over the speed limit in the northbound lane.

The deputy pulled over and attempted to perform a U-turn when he clipped the back of the truck that was driven by Middents in the southbound lane.

Hunt Highway was closed to allow deputies to conduct an investigation of the scene, Matteson said.

According to Chandler police an accident involving a motorcyclist and a police car may have been due to alcohol.

The accident occured near Alma School Road and Summit late Friday night, authorities were not able to offer a more specific time.

According to police the cyclist, who may have been under the influence of alcohol,  was transported to the hospital and the police officer received no injuries.

The accident is still under investigation.

 A man suspected of deliberately kicking his pregnant girlfriend in the stomach and dangling her over a second-floor balcony to “kill their unborn child”, was arrested Thursday.

 According to Mesa police report, Gilberto David Ceballos, 21, and his girlfriend of almost two years, who is five months pregnant, had a history of domestic violence in their home, located at 944 W. Main St. The violence escalated Thursday morning.

According to authorities, Ceballos’ girlfriend, reported that he became furious after police were called to their apartment by mistake for a different family fight. The victim said Ceballos blamed her even though it was a neighbor who called police.Ceballos is suspected of then yelling at his girlfriend that he was going to “kill her and her unborn child.” He knocked her to the ground and kicked her in the side while telling her that he was targeting their unborn baby, police said.

Two witnesses, who had been living with the couple for two weeks, added that Ceballos then grabbed his girlfriend by the throat and dangled her over the railing of their second-story apartment threatening to drop her in order to kill both her and her child, according to police reports.

The two witnesses, who are also friends of the couple, were able to grab the woman before she plummeted off the railing. They drove her to safety and notified police from a nearby store.

Ceballos is being held on suspicion of several counts of endangerment, threatening domestic violence, disorderly conduct, and assault.

Brandon Coleman learned it the hard way. 

If you steal a car from a dealership, don’t give the salesman your driver’s license.

Gilbert police arrested the 22-year-old Mesa man Thursday night after he and another man carjacked an SUV from a Gilbert car dealarship earlier in the afternoon, police said. 

Coleman went to test drive a Chevy Tahoe about 4:30 p.m. at Henry Brown GMC, near Val Vista Road and Loop 202.After he pulled out of the parking lot with a salesman riding with him, a four-door Saturn swerved and stopped in front of them.Dwight Boochie, 21, jumped out of the car and pulled a gun on the salesman, forcing him out of the vehicle, police said. 

The salesman ran back to the dealership to call police, and Boochie and Coleman fled. But it didn’t take long for detectives to get a lead on Coleman. Before the test drive, he gave his driver’s license to the salesman, who made a photocopy.

Detectives located Coleman at 9 p.m., driving the Saturn near Sossaman and University Roads. After a search, they found the keys to the Tahoe and the gun, which was also stolen. Police arrested Coleman and found Boochie shortly later in his Phoenix apartment, near 46th Street and Baseline Road. He was arrested without incident, police said. Both suspects were booked on suspicion of armed robbery.

The stolen Tahoe was found in Chandler.

Brandon Coleman          Dwight Boochie

A 45-year-old man from Mexico was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in federal prison for his role in holding 76 illegal immigrants hostage in a Peoria home, according the U.S. Attorney for Arizona.
A jury found Rufino Valdez-Lopez guilty in October on five counts related to the April 2007 kidnapping.
Sandy Raynor, U.S. Attorney spokeswoman, said in a press release that Valdez and five others would wave around an automatic rifle to intimidate the victims.
One of the victims testified he was held hostage for 40 days.

A Chandler man whose blood alcohol content was three times the legal limit for driving when he caused a fatal collision last year was sentenced Wednesday to 14 years in prison.

Efrain Vincente-Cruz, 30, was spotted on Dec. 17 by a witness in the area of Rittenhouse and Ellsworth roads driving erratically.

He crashed his car head-on into one driven by Marjorie Weeks, 59.

According to police, his BAC was .243, whereas the legal limit is .08.

Police have released a sketch of a man suspected in the December robbery of a Chandler home.

A resident returned Dec. 8 to his home in the 3800 block of Laredo Street, near McClintock Drive and Ray Road, to find two men inside his house, police said.

The men assaulted the resident and then fled with several items.

Police aren’t sure if the suspects left in a car, and the victim could only describe one of the men.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at (480) 782-4130.

Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office deputies and SWAT team were on scene of a barricade situation late Wednesday night. Deputies surrounded a suspect who had barricaded herself in the master bedroom of a home at 8133 E. 6^th Ave in Mesa, local media reported.The suspect was taken into custody around 8:30 p.m. after K-9 units were brought on scene to subdue her. MCSO officials refused to comment further on the situation.

Police are asking the public’s help in identifying a man suspected of robbing banks in Tempe, Mesa and Phoenix.

In the most recent incident on May 7, police said the man struck a Bank of America, located at 1158 E. Main Street about 3:20 p.m..

When the man entered the bank, he approached a teller and presented a note demanding cash. The bank teller handed over the money and the man fled.

The robber is described as black, in his mid to late 20s with black short to medium length hair, possibly in braids, brown eyes and 5 feet 8 inches to 6 feet tall and 170 to 200 pounds.

Police ask anyone with information to call Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS.