Cop Shop

Trinity Christian Fellowship is collecting donations for Ana Herrera and her six children who lost their mobile home and belongings in a fire on Wednesday morning.

To make a donation in person go to 50 S. McQueen in Chandler from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday. To mail a donation, send it to P.O. Box 1478 Chandler, AZ 85224.

For more information go to www.tcfchandler.org or call (480) 963-7698.

Close to 2,000 students at two Kyrene district schools were evacuated Wednesday morning when smoke filled a multipurpose room of one of the schools, fire officials say.

According to Dan Couch of Chandler Fire, the multipurpose room of Kyrene de las Brisas Elementary School, located at Ray Road and Desert Breeze Boulevard, was filled with smoke and fire officials ordered an evacuation. Brisas’ joint school, Aprende Middle School, was also evacuated.

School officials originally believed that a ballast, which provides the power for florescent lighting, malfunctioned and caused the smoke.  After checking further, school officials discovered that smoke actually was coming from an air handler unit in the air conditioning system.

Classes for the two Kyrene schools started on Aug. 4.

Tribune reporter Michelle Reese contributed to this report.

Chandler police are searching for a man they believe sexually assaulted an 18-year-old woman outside her home early Saturday.

Chandler police spokesman Frank Mendoza said the woman told police that a man sexually assaulted her in the 2000 block of East Butler Street at 2:30 a.m.

The woman told police that she did not know the man and he fled after the assault, Mendoza said. Police say that the man is heavyset, Hispanic or African-American, 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 7 inches tall and between 250 and 300 pounds. The man was last seen wearing all black clothing, according to a police news release.

Chandler police captured a man Thursday that admitted to stealing copper from a Chandler business eight times in the past two months, according to a police release.

Authorities discovered 28-year-old Curtis J. Davis at 5:30 a.m. in the process of taking copper from business rooftops near the intersection of Alma School and Chandler Boulevard.

Davis was arrested for copper theft, possession of burglary tools, possession of dangerous drugs and drug paraphernalia.

He admitted to stealing the copper, according to police, and told officers that he sold it to a 24-hour recycling yard in Phoenix.

A 64-year-old woman was robbed Wednesday of $2,100 cash and $1,100 of jewelry after two men said they wanted to help her fix her vehicle, police say.

The two suspects flagged down the woman’s car at Chandler Boulevard and 56th Street at 2 p.m. and told her that smoke was coming out of her trunk, according to a release from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s office.

After the woman stopped, the men said they put out the trunk fire and offered to help her fix the problem for $2,100, MCSO said.

The men claimed to be mechanics and convinced the woman to drive to a nearby bank in the suspect’s tan SUV to withdraw the money from her account.

Once the woman withdrew the funds, the suspects drove her to her home in Sun Lakes. One of the men faked a diabetic coma, allowing the other to pocket $1,100 worth of jewelry in the home and also take the $2,100 in cash, the release said.

MCSO officers are looking for the suspects and say one in his 20s and the other is between 40 and 60 years old. They were last seen driving a tan GMC or Chevy Tahoe SUV. The younger man was around 5′7″ wearing a light blue shirt and the other man was around 5′10″ wearing a dark shirt and both were wearing blue jeans.

The sheriff’s office is asking that anyone with information regarding this case should call (602) 876-1011.

A Washington woman’s disappearance may be tied to a man who was found in a Chandler apartment Tuesday evening, police say.

According to a release from the United States Marshal Service, Ashone Hollinquest, 22, was arrested Tuesday as a person of interest in the disappearance of 19-year-old Tiairra Jo Garcia.

He was found in an apartment on the 100 block of Hamilton Street and arrested along with his girlfriend, 26-year-old Andrea Parr.

Both were booked into the 4th Avenue Jail and are awaiting extradition to Washington.

A single-vehicle accident closed a Loop 202 San Tan off ramp at Arizona Avenue Wednesday, according to a Department of Public Safety spokesman.

The vehicle rolled over at 4:18 p.m. on the west bound Arizona Avenue off ramp, closing the ramp as well as the lane next to it on the Loop 202.

One injury has been reported, according to the spokesman, but the person’s identity is not yet known.

A 39-year-old truck driver was cited for hit and run Wednesday after he attempted to pull a U-turn on a private driveway and tangled his company truck in telephone wires, shattering the telephone pole, police said.

Chandler police spokesman David Ramer said the man, Antonio Pena, stopped at a Circle K gas station near the intersection of Fairview Street and Arizona Avenue to get a drink at 11:45 a.m.

Pena decided to pull a U-turn out of the gas station by using a driveway nearby.

He started to drive away, unaware that the top of his company truck had caught onto telephone wires and were stretching them, Ramer said.

The force of the pulling shattered one of the poles and cut power to a few homes in the area, Ramer said.

Pena fled the scene following the accident but a bystander wrote down his license plate number and gave it to Chandler police.

Pena was later found and cited with a hit and run, Ramer said.