Cop Shop

The Mesa Fire Department responded to a call around 5 p.m. Friday after a car parked in the driveway caught on fire at 7152 E. Azalea Circle, fire Capt. Steve Ward said. The fire was restricted to the car, but Ward said the side of the house was blackened. No one was injured in the blaze.

– Story by Yelena Galibov for the Tribune

A Mesa mother who beat her 10-year-old son to death received a life sentence with no chance for parole Friday in Maricopa County Superior Court.

Vicki Hulsey, 46, had previously admitted to the April 3, 2006, beating of Jarod “Jerry” Hulsey, the boy she adopted in 1998 and rescued as a toddler from an abusive mother who couldn’t care for him. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office agreed to drop its attempts at the death penalty in exchange for Hulsey’s guilty plea in the case.

The slain boy had cocaine in his system at the time of his death, according to an autopsy report from the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s office. He was found cold and lifeless on his bed with bruises covering his body.

A grand jury has indicted a Mesa group home worker accused of having sex with a 15-year-old resident, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday.

Alejandra

An armed robber made off Monday night with a man’s cell phone and his Burger King uniform, Mesa police said. Court records indicate the victim was walking north on the sidewalk along Stapley Drive when he stopped at 10:52 p.m. to help a motorist who asked for directions. The victim walked up to driver, who was stopped in the parking lot at 734 S. Stapley Drive. Police said the driver pointed a black semiautomatic handgun at the victim and demanded his property. The assailant left southbound on Stapley in a black, late-1990s model four-door Chrysler sedan with chrome rims. The victim described the assailant as a Hispanic male, 20 to 25 years old with a shaved head, thin build and wearing a white T-shirt. The victim said the gunman was alone in the vehicle.

An apartment fire at a small complex in downtown Mesa damaged one unit and left several families without electricity Tuesday morning.Mesa Fire Department deputy chief Mike Dunn said the fire started about 2:22 a.m. in a back bedroom at 151 N. Hibbert. The apartment complex is around the corner from a Mesa fire station, and Dunn said firefighters responded within two minutes. He said one woman and her teenage son lived in the damaged apartment. They were displaced but found a temporary home with relatives, Dunn said.American Red Cross spokeswoman Tracey Kiest said relief workers provided aid to three other families left without electricity. Dunn said Mesa utility crews worked throughout the morning to restore electricity. He did not have immediate information about whether power had been restored as of 9 a.m. Dunn said no people were injured in the fire. He said investigators have not yet determined the cause of the fire.The complex was quiet at 9 a.m., and a pile of charred mattresses and other rubble remained in the courtyard.

A female escort who let a stranger into her west Mesa apartment to provide "company" was robbed at gunpoint Thursday evening, police said.According to a news release from Mesa police, the robbery took place about 5:20 p.m. at the Homestead Studio Suites at 1920 W. Isabella Ave. southeast of U.S. 60 and Dobson Road. Police said the woman let a man into her apartment who called himself "Matt." Once inside, he pulled out a black handgun and demanded money.When the woman told the man she had no money, he pushed her into a bathroom and locked her inside while he looked through the apartment. Police said a second man joined the robbery. The two assailants fled the apartment with the woman’s laptop computer and cell phone. The victim told police she was expecting "Matt," who was sent to her room by a female friend who owns an online escort agency. The victim told police that "Matt" had agreed to pay her for her "company," not sex.

A bad day got worse Tuesday for a Tempe man accused of DUI in Mesa. Enrique P. McTeer, 29, was arrested about 12:30 a.m. after he drove a vehicle into a block wall. Court records indicate that McTeer showed signs of alcohol impairment but refused to submit to a blood alcohol test. So officers obtained a search warrant and took his blood by force.As an officer was booking McTeer into a Mesa holding cell, the suspect kicked the door into the officer. According to court records, the cell door struck the officer in the left shoulder and leg. The officer forced McTeer to the ground, handcuffed him and then arrested him again on suspicion of assaulting an officer. McTeer also faces charges of extreme DUI and criminal damage. Court records show he had a suspened driver’s license. He is listed as a legal U.S. resident or citizen.