Cop Shop

A Gilbert KFC employee stole a customer’s credit card in early November and racked up several charges over a nearly one-month period, according to police.

Melissa Kess, a KFC employee at the Warner and Cooper roads location, took a customer’s credit card on Nov. 7 and purchased several items with the card until her arrest on Dec. 1, according to a Gilbert arrest report.

After an investigation, police found several of the purchased items in her Chandler home that she shares with her boyfriend, Shawn Shea. Marijuana and drug paraphernalia were also found in the home near the intersection of Pecos Road and Arizona Avenue, the report shows.

Police arrested Kess and Shea, who were later booked in the 4th Avenue Jail for theft, credit card theft, fraud and possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia, the report said.

Police do not believe there were any more victims in this case. Gilbert Sgt. Mark Marino did not know the amount of money used on the credit card during the incident.

A Pinal County detention sergeant accused of several inmate-related crimes refused a plea deal following a hearing in court Tuesday.

Amado S. Martinez, 54, was indicted in September for 18 felony charges, including forgery, theft, identity theft and computer tampering after authorities suspected he was forging checks connected to inmate funds, according to a superior court indictment.

The plea deal would have charged Martinez with one count each of theft, forgery and computer tampering - chopping 15 charges from the original indictment, said Pinal County attorney’s spokesman Kostas Kalaitzdis.

The indictment charges Martinez with tampering with inmate funds at the Pinal County Detention Center between March and April of this year. A Tribune report showed that Martinez was reprimanded for mishandling the same funds nine months before the incidents.

Martinez will face a judge on Jan. 6 and enter a plea, Kalaitzdis said.

Two Phoenix restaurant employees were robbed and kidnapped early Saturday morning by five men wearing masks, police say.

Three of the suspects entered the Los Alamos restaurant, located near the intersection of 30th Street and Bell Road, at 9:15 a.m. and forced one of men into their tan Chevy Blazer, according to Phoenix police Lt. John Stallings.  The other victim was forced to take his own truck to his home while the suspect’s vehicle followed them.

The suspects then tied up both victims and burglarized the home, Stallings said.  After the suspects fled, the victims were able to free themselves and walk back to the restaurant. On the way, the victim found his stolen vehicle parked near the intersection of Cave Creek Road and Union Hills Drive, Stallings said.

A witness reportedly saw a suspect leave the stolen truck at the Phoenix intersection and immediately enter a white sedan, Stallings said.

The victims told police they did not recognize the masked men and could not identify their voices.  At this time, police are still struggling to find a detailed description of the suspects.

Jason Massad, Tribune

Pinal County Sheriff’s deputies recently recovered two stolen trailers full of stolen items this month.

The trailers, hooked to semi trucks, were returned to the owners. However, the contents didn’t belong to them and the stolen property is now being housed at the sheriff’s office in Florence.

The property consists of an assortment of items, including a drill, tools, a mattress and box springs, crutches, a boat propeller and minature motorcycles.

Photos of the property can be found here.

The Web site shows users how to contact the sheriff’s office if they believe any of the property belongs to them.

Two men were found guilty of several crimes related to a 2007 shooting at Arizona Mills Mall in Tempe, according to the Maricopa County Attorney’s office.

Jesus Valdez Aguilar (pictured right) and Francisco Norzagaray (left) kidnapped a man on Dec. 15 after he refused to give the duo $900 once they lured him into the backseat of their vehicle, a release states.

The victim tried to jump from the moving vehicle but one of suspects grabbed his shirt from behind to pull him back inside. The victim jumped again but not before one of the men shot him in the back, according to the release.

The victim required numerous surgeries to correct the damage from the bullet.

Both men, who are in the country illegally, were found guilty of attempted first degree murder and kidnapping. Norzagaray, 26, was also found guilty of forgery. He has two prior convictions and has been deported once before. Aguilar, 22, has one prior conviction, according to the release.

A Mesa woman stabbed her male neighbor in the face and arm Tuesday evening but told police she blacked out and didn’t remember the incident, police say.

Grace Munguia, 27, was arrested after she fled the scene of the stabbing at 708 N. Country Club Drive and was booked for aggravated assault, according to Mesa police spokesman Det. Steve Berry.

Munguia admits that she and the man fought with each other at an apartment complex near 10:30 p.m., according to a police arrest report. She told police that she went into a “fit of rage” and blacked out. Munguia claimed she did not remember stabbing the man and confessed that she often blacks out when angry, Berry said.

The male victim received stitches on his face at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborne and was released the same evening.

A 52-year-old Tempe man has been missing since Friday afternoon and police believe he may be a danger to himself after talking about problems in his life to his family members.

Ian Baldwin was last seen at his Tempe home near the intersection of Kyrene and Warner roads between 4 and 6 p.m. Friday, according to Tempe police spokeswoman Katie McDevitt. Family members reported him missing and told police he drives a blue 1999 Toyota Sienna.

Baldwin was “incoherent” and “upset” while talking about problems in his life before he went missing, McDevitt said.

She also said Baldwin has a history of mental health issues.

Anyone with information about Baldwin is urged to call Tempe Police at (480) 350-8311.

A Florence correctional officer turned himself in Sunday for a Minnesota warrant that charges him with his wife’s murder, according to the sheriff’s office.

Andrew Gordon Lemcke, 34, turned himself in at a Johnson Ranch substation in Pinal County at 2:30 p.m., according to sheriff’s spokeswoman Vanessa White. Lemcke works for the Corrections Corporation of America, White said.

Lemcke told PCSO that he had “accidentally” killed his wife while they lived in Minnesota and his attorney informed him Sunday that a warrant had now been issued for his arrest, according to a PCSO arrest record. The warrant was issued on Nov. 14, the report shows.

Lemcke was transported to the PCSO jail to await extradition.

An Associated Press report shows that his wife, Nichole Riley-Lemcke, was shot on Sept. 14, 2004 at her home in Appleton, Minn. Her parents filed a wrongful death suit against Lemcke in 2007, according to the AP report.

A Florence man that reportedly dragged his horse behind his vehicle and used a piece of pipe to beat the animal will face one charge of animal cruelty, according to the Pinal County Attorney’s office.

An officer witnessed Gordon Allen Bates drag the horse behind his truck with a strap used for towing vehicles at his Florence home on Aug. 4, a Pinal County Sheriff’s office report shows. His 13-year-old daughter also reportedly kicked the animal in the head while yelling at it to get up from the ground, according to the report.

Once rescued, the horse was treated for injuries including the removal of the tow strap that had been embedded in it’s neck as well as several scrapes and bruises from being dragged by the vehicle, the report shows.

Bates will face a judge on Dec. 10 with one charge of animal cruelty, a Class 6 Felony, according to county attorney spokesman Kostas Kalaitzdis. Gordon told officers he was beating the animal because it wouldn’t listen to orders, according to the report.

The animal was turned over to the Department of Agriculture following the incident.

The identity of two Pinal County bank robbery suspects remains a mystery late Thursday as authorities continue to search for their whereabouts.

The duo, a man and woman in their 20’s, robbed a Wells Fargo Bank inside of a Fry’s Grocery store located at the intersection of Gantzel and Combs roads just after 1 p.m., according to Pinal County Sheriff’s spokesman Mike Minter.

The suspects have been linked to several bank robberies in the East Valley, Minter said. Wells Fargo has offered a $5,000 reward to anyone that helps identify the pair (pictured at left).

Both suspects appear to be Caucasian and wore dark sunglasses and baseball caps during the robbery, according to surveillance video.