Cop Shop

An undercover police vehicle was stolen in a Casa Grande parking lot Wednesday evening with 75 pounds of marijuana inside, authorities say.  The vehicle was later found but the drugs have not yet been recovered.

Four men were arrested in Casa Grande regarding the car theft that occurred Wednesday at 5 p.m. but the vehicle was later discovered in Eloy, according to PCSO spokesman Mike Minter. The vehicle was parked at the Promenade Mall for an investigative operation.

Miguel Rodriguez, 23, of Eloy, Carlos Orozco, 22, Jose Orozco Jr., 18 and Jose Orozco Sr., 48- all of Arizona City, were arrested by Pinal County deputies at the scene of the theft.  They will face charges including possession and transportation of marijuana, aggravated assault of a police officer and theft as a mean of transportation, Minter said.

The Department of Public Safety has discovered that the man killed while riding his bicycle on the I-10 was visiting his family in California, and authorities have not determined why he was in Arizona.

Georgia resident Charles Fincher, 50, was scheduled to return home on Saturday to his hometown of Douglasville, DPS said.

DPS determined that Fincher was driving his father’s van near the Casa Grande area on Wednesday when it broke down.

Fincher was found dead Wednesday morning after the bicycle he was riding was hit by a semi-truck on the I-10 freeway, according to DPS.

A 20-year-old woman who said she was raped received treatment from a Pinal County medical facility Thursday morning, police say, and after the woman left the clinic, a physician’s assistant reported the incident to police.

The physician’s assistant told police that the woman said she was raped around 11 p.m. Wednesday, a police report said.

The woman had already left the facility near the 200 block of East Hunt Highway by the time a sheriff’s officer arrived, but the physician’s assistant said she was at Mercy Gilbert Medical Center for further treatment.

Pinal County sheriff’s spokesman Mike Minter said the case was still ongoing, and authorities were unsure where the alleged attack occurred. The police report stated that the case had been turned over to detectives for further investigation.

Pinal County deputies won one and lost one in a high speed chase Saturday.
Deputies seized a pickup truck with 2,000 pounds of marijuana, but the driver got away on foot after abandoning the vehicle.
According to Mike Minter, Pinal County sheriff’s spokesman, the chase began at 3 a.m. at Interstate 8 and Vekol Road when deputies spotted the 2004 GMC 2500 driving with its lights off.
The truck, which carried the load of pot under a camper shell, led deputies on a chase for several miles until the driver bailed out in the desert.

A Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputy attempting to stop a speeding driver Saturday clipped another vehicle and caused it to crash, authorities said.

The incident happened near the intersection of Hunt Highway and Granite Reef Dam Road about 12:30 p.m., closing Hunt Highway for several hours for the investigation, said MCSO spokesman Doug Matteson.

The deputy struck the rear of a passerby’s vehicle causing the blue Ford truck to crash, Matteson said. Driver Anne Middents, 20, of Tempe was taken to a nearby hospital with minor injuries, Matteson said.

The deputy was not injured.

Middents vehicle was not speeding at the time the deputy was attempting to go after the speeding suspect.

According to official reports, the deputy was driving southbound on Hunt Highway and was passed by a car going over the speed limit in the northbound lane.

The deputy pulled over and attempted to perform a U-turn when he clipped the back of the truck that was driven by Middents in the southbound lane.

Hunt Highway was closed to allow deputies to conduct an investigation of the scene, Matteson said.