Cop Shop

A 33-year old man drove a car into a canal after trying to elude cops Monday, police said.
Michael Alfaro was booked on suspicion of aggravated assault on a police officer, burglary, and criminal damage.
According to Gilbert police, officers responded to a call of a vehicle burglary in progress at 3225 E. Baseline Road about 4:50 a.m.
Alfaro drove straight at police in an attempt to escape, police said.
Police chased him until he went into the canal east of Greenfield Road and Desert Lane.
No one was injured in the incident.

The Valley’s new light rail system saw its first reported collision Tuesday afternoon, when a car hit the train and sped off, according to Phoenix authorities.

Phoenix police reported that the incident was minor with little to no damage to the train and no reported injuries.

A car collided with the train at 2:15 p.m. near First Avenue and Jefferson Street, according to the report. Police did not know how many people were in the car at the time of the collision, but authorities said that the train was not taken out of service.

Police officer John Howard said there was no specific description of the vehicle because police received so many conflicting descriptions from witnesses.

Howard sad the train car received minor scuffs in the Valley’s first rail collision since the Metro celebrated its grand opening on Saturday, Dec. 27. He said the police were investigating the incident. No further information was available.

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An armed gunman got away with cash Monday from a Mesa fast-food restaurant.
According to Mesa police, the robber was described as a black male, 20 to 30 years old, between 5 feet, 7 inches and 5 feet, 8 inches, 170 to 180 pounds. He was wearing a black jacket with a hood and black cargo pants.
Police said the man walked into the Jack-in-the-Box at 1860 W. Southern Ave. about 6:40 p.m. and demanded cash.
He left on foot, police said.

An unshaven, scruffy-haired robber knocked over a Circle K Monday in Mesa.
According to Mesa police, the robber pulled a black semi-automatic handgun on the clerk at 4353 S. Southern Ave. about 11:08 p.m. He left in a silver or gray four-door passenger car with the money.
The robber is described as a white male, 28 to 40 years old and wearing a gray sweatshirt and black hat.

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.

James Alvin Duke

Police arrested a registered sex offender who tried to nab an 18-year-old girl while she tended animals at Gilbert High School on Thursday.

Authorities said James Alvin Duke, 43, tried to abduct a girl who was grooming animals that are housed at the school around 6 p.m. on Thursday. According to reports the girl stabbed Duke in the chest with her keys after she placed them defensively in her hand as she him approaching.

Police said Duke continued to wrestle with the girl until she activated the “panic car alarm”. Duke fled the scene on foot, left his own car, and stole a semi tractor trailer truck from 1200 W. Sam Pedro in Gilbert, which was later recovered in Phoenix.

Gilbert detectives arrested Duke as he was attempting to leave the Valley around 4:30 p.m. Friday.

Duke, a registered sex offender, was arrested and transported to Maricopa County 4^th Avenue Jail on suspicion of attempted sexual assault, theft of means of transportation, and attempted kidnapping.

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.

Mesa police arrested a 20-year-old man Thursday who is suspected of burglarizing a neighbor’s home and then keeping police at bay while he held a gun to his head.
According to Mesa police, the incident began to unfold at 4 p.m. when they responded to a call about suspicious activity in the 2000 block of East Fairfield.
Police found a home that had been burglarized and as they were investigating learned there was a suicidal man next door. They also heard a gunshot.
Police learned that the man, identified as Richard Rodenbaugh, had also burglarized the neighbor’s home and made the initial call, according to a police report.
Rodenbaugh came out of his home with a gun to his head and returned inside after refusing to drop the gun. He came out a second time and dropped the gun.

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.