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September 13th, 2008, 1:10 pm by Nick R. Martin
 
The search on Saturday morning for a potentially-suicidal Scottsdale mom and her missing 9-year-old daughter has led authorities to Yavapai County, where they believe the pair is camped out.
Elisabeth Ann Sigal, 33, (pictured left) and her daughter Jasmine Ealy (right) disappeared from their Scottsdale home sometime Friday night.
Since then, Scottsdale police have been worried the pair is in danger because Sigal reportedly left a suicide note behind when they left.
Her husband found the note and called police about 2:30 a.m. Saturday, said police spokesman Sgt. Mark Clark.
At first, authorities were baffled at where the pair had gone, though cell phone records showed they initially headed north along Interstate 17.
But late this morning, Sigal apparently spoke to a friend of hers by phone, saying she had fled to Yavapai County with her daughter to get away from her husband, Clark said.
“We’re finding that there was a little more domestic unrest than we were first led to believe,” Clark said.
The woman told her friend she did not intend to hurt herself or Jasmine, Clark said.
As of the afternoon, it was unclear whether the mother ever truly left a suicide note behind. Police continued to search for the two to ensure their safety.
Posted in: Scottsdale | 3 Comments »
September 13th, 2008, 12:08 pm by Nick R. Martin
A 12-year-old girl unhappy about her recent move to Mesa went missing on Friday evening, and police are asking for help finding her. Lonnie Smith (pictured left in pink clothing) disappeared sometime after 4:30 p.m., after asking her father if she could ride her bike, authorities said in a statement released this morning. When she didn’t return by sundown, her father got worried and checked her room, where he found clothes and personal items missing.
Lonnie and her family moved to Mesa from Laveen about three weeks ago. Mesa police can be reached at (480) 644-2211.
Posted in: Mesa | 15 Comments »
September 6th, 2008, 8:58 am by Nick R. Martin
One person was killed in an early morning crash on the San Tan stretch of Loop 202 in east Mesa. Authorities did not release the name of the person killed or whether anyone else was seriously injured. Arizona Department of Public Safety officers were on scene near Elliot Road, investigating what caused the 1:32 a.m. crash, but had not released details.
Officers closed a portion of the loop, starting at Power Road in southeast Mesa, while the investigation continues. State transportation officials expect the stretch to be closed until at least 10:30 a.m. Keep an eye on the continually-updated traffic map on evtrib.com for word on when the freeway reopens.
UPDATE (10:20 a.m.): DPS says the freeway is open again. Officials released no further information.
Posted in: Mesa | 2 Comments »
September 3rd, 2008, 5:29 pm by Nick R. Martin
Picked for jury duty in the trial of accused Serial Shooter Dale Hausner (pictured)? Be prepared to open up about almost everything. Hundreds of potential jurors will have to fill out a probing 21-page questionnaire to qualify for the chance to sit over the historic and lengthy trial, which began today in Maricopa County Superior Court.
Among the questions: Have you ever received mental health treatment? If so, please describe it.
The attorneys weeding through potential jurors also want to know whether you routinely have close contact with someone in law enforcement or personally know an attorney. The goal is to find 12 people and some alternates who can give a fair verdict in the high-profile trial.
Here is the full questionnaire (PDF) if you want to read more.
Posted in: Maricopa County • Mesa • Phoenix | Post a Comment »
August 23rd, 2008, 1:40 pm by Nick R. Martin
A statewide DUI crackdown collared 53 people on suspicion of drunken driving overnight, according to a statement released this morning by the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. That figure raises the number of arrests during a three-week operation to 170. The crackdown began on Aug. 15 and lasts until Labor Day, with as many as 50 agencies participating statewide.
Posted in: Uncategorized | 12 Comments »
August 21st, 2008, 5:02 pm by Nick R. Martin
 Chandler police Sgt. Tom Lovejoy, acquitted last week of animal cruelty in the death of his police dog, has hired a high-powered Phoenix attorney to consider suing the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office because of his arrest.
Lovejoy (pictured left) confirmed late Wednesday he recently hired Michael Manning, an attorney with a history of filing — and often winning — high-profile lawsuits against the sheriff’s office and other agencies. Manning is currently representing two executives of the Phoenix New Times newspaper in a wrongful arrest lawsuit against the sheriff and county attorney. He is also representing the family of Carol Gotbaum, a woman who died in Phoenix police custody at Sky Harbor International Airport last year.
Manning could not be reached for comment Thursday, but his retention by Lovejoy signals that the Chandler sergeant is serious about the possibility of suing the county for his arrest and prosecution. In an exclusive interview earlier this week, Lovejoy said he still believes he was arrested to draw international media attention to Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The sheriff and his spokesmen have strongly denied the allegation.
UPDATE (5:02 p.m.): In a phone call this afternoon, Mike Manning said he and Lovejoy have not yet decided whether to bring a suit. There are a lot of elements at play that his firm must look at before he recommends anything to the sergeant, he said.
“Certainly what happened to him is inconsistent with the way the sheriff’s department has handled other similar deaths of dogs in their care,” Manning said. “It’s pretty clear that Sheriff Arpaio was treating this as an opportunity for press splash.”
Posted in: Chandler • Maricopa County • Phoenix | 24 Comments »
August 2nd, 2008, 12:54 pm by Nick R. Martin
A pair of journalists will not be forced to testify at a court hearing for suspected Serial Shooter Dale Hausner (pictured left) later this month after all. Hausner’s attorney, Kenneth Everett, said in court on Friday he will instead use newspaper clippings to prove the case has garnered too much media attention in Maricopa County for his client to get a fair trial here. The goal is to get the Mesa man’s eight-count murder trial moved out of the Valley before its Sept. 3 start.
Everett previously said he wanted to bring reporters from the Arizona Republic and Associated Press to the stand to ask them “something along the lines of: Have you ever experienced anything like it?” Their response, he said, would prove that Hausner’s arrest and legal proceedings were so widely known that it would be nearly impossible to find unbiased jurors.
Critics argued the testimony would be a waste of time, given that pollsters or media researchers would be better suited to answer those questions than the reporters themselves. Everett apparently had a change of heart, telling Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Roland Steinle on Friday that he would not subpoena the reporters.
“So, you’re not going to call Mr. Kiefer?” asked Steinle, referring to Arizona Republic reporter Michael Kiefer, who had just entered the courtroom to cover the hearing.
“I’m not going to give Mr. Imbordino (the prosecutor) the pleasure,” Everett replied. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Maricopa County • Mesa | 2 Comments »
July 30th, 2008, 12:20 pm by Nick R. Martin
 The bickering over the book continued this morning. Maricopa County’s chief prosecutor, Andrew Thomas (pictured right), a Republican who’s running for re-election this fall, was on KTAR-FM this morning with host Darrell Ankarlo, defending his decision to use public money to promote Ankarlo’s new book. The spending was criticized yesterday by Tim Nelson, a Democrat running to unseat Thomas this fall. The county attorney’s office released a copy of the contract to us yesterday. Here it is: Ankarlo’s contract with the county attorney.
By the way, Ankarlo said on air this morning that he did not receive a dime of public money in the deal, only the opportunity to use the prosecutor’s name and seal on his book tour.
Posted in: Maricopa County | 3 Comments »
July 30th, 2008, 12:07 pm by Nick R. Martin
 A la The Smoking Gun, here’s the arrest report for hip hop artist Naledge (pictured left, pronounced “Knowledge”), who was arrested over the weekend at a Tempe nightclub. The 25-year-old Chicago resident, whose given name is Jabari Evans, is a rising figure in the hip hop world and was in the midst of a national tour at the time of his arrest. Police say he had to be physically removed from the Cherry Lounge & Pit in downtown Tempe after refusing to obey police demands that he leave the scene of a fight. He was booked on suspicion of interfering with a police investigation and later released on $500 bail.
Posted in: Tempe | Post a Comment »
July 12th, 2008, 1:31 pm by Nick R. Martin
When the Gilbert Police Department got word that the town’s mayor, Steve Berman, may have somehow hit or injured a member of his family earlier this week, its police chief immediately turned over the domestic violence investigation to another police agency to avoid “any appearance of a conflict.” But in doing so, the chief appears to have turned handed it to one of Berman’s closest political allies, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
In fact, Berman and Arpaio, both Republicans, appear shoulder-to-shoulder in a photo on the mayor’s campaign website. On the same site, Berman even has a note that Arpaio penned for him declaring him “a real mayor and good for Gilbert” (see the photo above).
So is this a conflict? Neither Arpaio’s office nor Berman will comment today. But Arpaio’s opponent in upcoming sheriff’s election, former Buckeye police Chief Dan Saban, thinks so.
“I would say, on its face, it does appear to be another conflict in a long series of conflicts,” said Saban. Arpaio “has a long history of supporting those who support him.” Saban, a Democrat, pointed to recent sheriff’s investigations, such as the agency’s ongoing inquiry of Democratic state Attorney General Terry Goddard, as evidence of politically-motivated cases.
And Saban, who lives in Gilbert, said the town’s police Chief Tim Dorn, who is a former sheriff’s deputy, should have asked some other agency to investigate the case. Dorn told the Tribune yesterday he handed the domestic violence investigation to Arpaio because MCSO has jurisdiction over the entire county. But, Saban said, any police agency in the state could have handled the investigation. “Tim Dorn could have gone to anybody” Saban said. “He could have asked Flagstaff PD to investigate it if he wanted to.”
For now, though, the details of the investigation remain a mystery until the sheriff’s office releases them. Even the identity of the supposed victim remains secret. Arpaio was coy yesterday when asked about the case and gave few details. “Someone asked us to take this over,” he said. “We’re going to look into it.”
Posted in: Gilbert • Maricopa County | 1 Comment »
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