Cop Shop

A group of Pinal County sheriff deputies shot and killed a Queen Creek resident early Saturday after the man fired a gun at the officers, authorities say.

The department received a report of domestic violence in an unincorporated portion of Pinal County on the 4500 Block of Rolling Ridge Road at 3 a.m., according to sheriff’s spokeswoman Vanessa White. When deputies arrived, 55-year-old David Hogue pointed a firearm at the responding sheriffs’ vehicles and fired a single shot, she said.

Several deputies returned fire and struck Hogue, White said. Hogue was transported to Scottsdale Osborne Healthcare where he later died from his injuries.

A Queen Creek man suspected of stealing credit cards from gym lockers across the Valley and using them for retail purchases was charged with eight felony counts Wednesday, according to the county attorney’s office.

Owen Hardy, 49, was followed by a Mesa task force for several months while he committed thefts from lockers at several different gyms and used stolen credit cards to make purchases, according to a Mesa Police probable cause statement.

Hardy will face charges for four counts of burglary, three counts of credit card forgery and one count of trafficking stolen property, all felonies.

Hardy traveled between Pima and Maricopa counties, as well as Southern California, to commit the burglaries, according to the release. He faces a $90,000 bond and could receive more charges.

A Pinal County Health and Human Services employee was charged with one felony count of a conflict of interest on Dec. 18 following an investigation into acts she committed in 2005, according to a superior court indictment.

Irma Potter was investigated by the Pinal County sheriff’s office and will face prosecution by the Pinal County attorney’s office, said county spokesman Joe Pyritz.

The indictment shows that Potter knowingly or intentionally violated an Arizona law that forces county employees who have a “substantial interest in any contract, sale, purchase or service” to make the interest known in public records. The law also states that the employee must refrain from participating as an officer or employee for the particular interest.

The acts were committed in 2005 between Nov. 1 through Dec. 18, the indictment shows. Pyritz did not release any further details in the case.

Two teen boys were taken into police custody Wednesday after police believe the 16-year-old and 17-year-old committed “beer runs” for a family holiday party at their grandmother’s home.

An on-duty officer spotted the 16-year-old’s Ford Crown Victoria at a Shell gas station located at the intersection of Guadalupe Road and Arizona Avenue with a box covering the vehicle’s license plate at 10 p.m., according to a Gilbert Police arrest record. The officer matched the vehicle’s description to another reported alcohol theft that occurred less than an hour before at a different gas station down the street.

After a police pursuit, the 16-year-old parked at his grandmother’s home less than four miles from the Shell gas station, the record states.

Two of the vehicles’ passengers fled into the home during a large holiday party while the 16-year-old remained in the vehicle.

Officers chased the other passengers through the party and arrested the 17-year-old for being a minor in consumption and theft. The driver was arrested for felony flight, drug DUI and driving on a suspended license. His arrest came six hours after his court-mandated rehab program release, according to the report.

Both suspects admitted to stealing the alcoholic beverages from the Circle K but the third suspect was not identified.

Two suspects that may have burglarized a Gilbert school in October are now in custody after an extensive investigation, police records show.
The men, Gregory Griffin and Kameron Williams, were arrested this month and booked for burglary, misdemeanor theft and misdemeanor warrants, according to a Gilbert Police arrest record.
Police believe the men entered Highland High School, located on Guadalupe Road between Higley and Power roads, on Oct. 21 and stole computer related equipment from two classrooms, according to Gilbert Police spokesman Sgt. Mark Marino.
Griffin (pictured right), 28, was taken into police custody on Dec. 18 and Williams (pictured left), 20, was arrested Tuesday for his participation in the burglary.

An armed man attempting to rob a Chandler jewelry store died from a gunshot wound resulting from a gun battle between the suspect and store employees, police say.

The store manager was shot in the face during the battle, but he is expected to survive, according to Chandler police Det. David Ramer. The department has not released the identities of anyone involved in the incident.

Two male suspects entered the Christopher Diamond Jewelry store, located near the intersection of Chandler Blvd. and the Loop 101, at 4:45 p.m. Saturday, Ramer said. One of the men was armed and told the store owner, his wife and their adult son that he was going to rob the store.

When the store manager pulled a gun, the suspect shot him, Ramer said. A resulting gun battle left the suspect mortally wounded but he was able to flee in a stolen pick-up truck to the area of Broadway and the Loop 101.

The suspect’s vehicle came to a stop near the intersection and the second man fled on foot while the wounded suspect remained inside the truck. The wounded man was transported to an area hospital where he later died, Ramer said.

The second suspect was later arrested in the surrounding area, Ramer said.

No one else was injured during the shooting but witnesses helped police track the suspect’s vehicle by providing a description of the truck, Ramer said.

A Minnesota district judge set $1 million bail for a Florence detention officer accused of killing his wife in 2004 after learning of new forensic evidence Friday.

4 years later, prison guard faces murder charges

Andrew Gordon Lemcke, 34, was charged with first and second degree murder in November after his wife died from a gun shot wound to the head in their shared Appleton, MN home on Sept. 12, 2004. Lemcke has maintained his innocence by saying that his wife’s death was accidental after the two wrestled for control of a loaded firearm.

The Swift County district court judge also allowed a $10,000 cash bail for Lemcke that his family is attempting to collect, according to Lemcke’s attorney Brian Wojtalewicz.

Lemcke, of Florence, turned himself over to the Pinal County Sheriff’s department on Nov. 16 after officials released a warrant for his arrest, Wojtalewicz said. He was an employee with the Florence Correction Center and placed on administrative leave following his arrest.

Officials cited new forensic evidence and expert testimony for the charges brought against Lemcke, but they have not released any information about the evidence itself, he said.

A man arrested for driving under the influence of drugs decided to burglarize a family practice and a pickup truck after his release on the same evening, according to a Gilbert police report.

Monty Levinson, 36, was found passed out next to a Gilbert Kindercare preschool with the stolen property and burglary tools next to him at 1 a.m. Friday, the report says.

Investigators found that Levinson had attempted to walk to Mesa after his Thursday DUI release and then burglarized and damaged the truck, located at a U-Haul center near the intersection of GIlbert and Warner roads. After obtaining the truck’s speakers, he burglarized a TLC Family Practice just across the street, the report states.

He was found near the preschool with the truck’s speakers, a computer monitor from the family practice and burglary tools.

Police believe Levinson has been involved in other same-day burglaries in the area of Warner and Gilbert roads.

A Gilbert woman traveling through an intersection struck an ambulance responding to an emergency call Tuesday, police say.

Driver Trisha Hauserman, 30, failed to yield to the ambulance as it traveled eastbound through the intersection of Higley and Germann roads, according to Gilbert police spokesman Mark Marino. The ambulance stopped at the intersection before it entered the roadway at 5:30 p.m. and several other cars had already yielded for the medical vehicle to pass, he said.

Hauserman was traveling northbound on Higley Road when she struck the vehicle, Marino said.

Marino could not confirm that Hauserman received a citation for the accident, but said the driver of the ambulance, David Watts, was not injured in the collision.

The human remains found less than ten miles southwest of Superior have been identified as an adult black female, according to Pinal County sheriff’s authorities.

A camper discovered the remains inside of an abandoned freezer three miles from the intersection of US 60 and Picket Post Road, said PCSO spokeswoman Vanessa White. The scene was secured at noon by the Superior Police Department and PCSO deputies took over the investigation at 1 p.m., she said.

Investigators have not identified the woman and have not released how long the woman may have been inside the freezer.