Cop Shop

Power restored to 600 homes in Mesa

Eddi Trevizo — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:33:33 +0000

Power was restored to a Mesa neighborhood that was left in the dark and with no air conditioning for hours Tuesday night, Salt River Project officials said.

Calls started coming in about the massive outage around 6:30 p.m., SRP officials said. The power outages at the neighborhood near Gilbert and Brown roads left about 600 homes without electricity, officials said. The widespread outage was caused by a damaged fuse on a system circuit board, SRP officials said.

SRP said the power was restored to 600 homes at 10:13 p.m. No other widespread outages were reported in the East Valley late Tuesday. Check back at evtrib.com for more updates

Mesa vehicle roll over stops traffic

Eddi Trevizo — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:22:53 +0000

Mesa authorities were on scene of a single vehicle roll over Tuesday afternoon.

According to Mesa police, the driver of a white mini van was seriously injured when his vehicle rolled over near the intersection at Broadway Road and Country Club Drive. The accident occurred about 6:30 p.m. and closed all traffic flow on Country Club Drive, according to authorities.

Police said all roads re-opened at about 9 p.m.. The driver was transferred to a local hospital; police do not know what caused the vehicle to roll over.

Police: Man groped girls at garage sales

Katie McDevitt — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:24:41 +0000

Police arrested a registered sex offender Monday on suspicion of going to garage sales in Phoenix and fondling the breasts of girls.

Charles Schibilla, 57, was arrested on five counts of sexual abuse stemming from incidents targeting girls ages 9, 11 and 13.

Police said that on June 21 and August 16, Schibilla went to two separate garage sales in the central city area under the pretense that he was looking for a shirt for his daughter. In each case, police said Schibilla asked the victims to hold a shirt up to their chest. While the girls modeled the shirts, he fondled their breasts.

Investigators believe there may be other girls that have been abused by Schibilla.

Police ask anyone with information to call (602) 534-2121 or Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS.

Authorities identify Queen Creek crash victims

John Leptich — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:41:49 +0000

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday identified the driver of a vehicle found early Monday morning after on its roof after driving off the road at Hunt Highway and Sossaman Road near Queen Creek. Anthony Jones, 22, drove the vehicle, whose make and model weren’t identified by authorities. Passengers in the vehicle, found at about 6:15 a.m. Monday, were Kimberly Jackson, 21, Raven Cassa, 20, and another individual who’s name hasn’t been released. All four were taken to an area hospital. Authorities haven’t released the extent of injuries Jones or the passengers suffered, their conditions or places of residence.

Chandler police seek man who robbed Circle K

John Leptich — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:07:53 +0000

Chandler police are looking for a man who, at 1 a.m. Tuesday, held up a clerk at the Circle K, 1262 W. Chandler Road. Police said the clerk told them the man told her he had a gun, but she never saw one. The man hit the clerk as he told her to get down to the floor. Police said the clerk told them she was hit so hard that she thought she had been shot. She was taken to a hospital and treated for blunt force trauma.
Police said the man is black, 5-feet-8-inches tall, about 185 pounds, in his 40s, with a beard and moustache. He was wearing sunglasses, a white under shirt and tan flowered-print shirt.

Mesa police arrest suspected voyeur

Eddi Trevizo — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 05:16:14 +0000

Mesa police said a peeping Tom was arrested when he used his cell phone to take inappropriate pictures of unsuspecting women at a grocery store over the weekend.

Profirio N. Cecena-Espinoza, 20, was arrested Saturday after a witness saw him trying to take pictures up the skirt of an unsuspecting woman with his cell phone, according to a police report. The victim notified store managers at the Fry’s Grocery Store near Baseline Road and Stapley Drive. The managers took Cecena-Espinoza’s cell phone and found pictures taken of several women and notified authorities, according to the report.

Cecena-Espinoza was not able to take pictures of the victim; however he admitted that he tried unsuccessfully several times before he was spotted by the witness. When questioned by police, Cecena-Espinoza admitted that he took the pictures “for the thrill of getting away with it,” according to the reports.

Police said that there were seven different pictures in total and that Cecena-Espinoza will be charged with seven counts of voyeurism and one count of attempted voyeurism.

Jack in the Box robbed in Chandler

Devon Hersom — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:35:04 +0000

A Chandler Jack in the Box was robbed early Saturday morning by three men who demanded money from the register and punched an employee in the face, police say.

According to Chandler police spokesman David Ramer, three men entered a Jack in the Box on Riggs and McQueen roads just before 4 a.m. The two male employees of the restaurant told the three men that they were closed, but one of the suspects cussed at them and punched an employee in the face, Ramer said.

After the assault, one of the suspects displayed a weapon and demanded money from the employees, Ramer said. The men made off with less than $500, according to Ramer.

None of the suspects were apprehended and no specific descriptions of the men were available.

53 arrested in statewide DUI crackdown

Nick R. Martin — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:40:30 +0000

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.

Boy hit by truck in Apache Junction

Eddi Trevizo — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 01:23:13 +0000

A 7 year-old was struck by a vehicle while riding his bike Friday afternoon in Apache Junction.

According to authorities the accident occurred at Meridian Road and 5th Avenue. Initial reports said the boy received several injuries all over his body.

According to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, the boy was flown to Maricopa Medical Center to be treated for non life-threatening injuries.

It is unclear whether the boy was in a crosswalk at the time of the accident.

Suspected sexual predator arrested in Tempe

Eddi Trevizo — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 04:00:48 +0000

A suspected sexual predator arriving at what he thought would be a rendezvous with a minor was arrested by police officers waiting to catch him, authorities said.

Police said that Joseph V. Badaracco, 53, was arrested Thursday afternoon in the area of Rural Road and Guadalupe Road in Tempe. Badaracco’s arrest is the first in what Tempe police hope will be many resulting from the new Internet Crimes Against Children Unit (ICAC).

According to Tempe officials, the new unit’s mission will be to deter, prevent, investigate and prosecute predators who seek to exploit or engage minors in sexual activity through the use of computers and the Internet.

Badaracco is accused of attempting to lure a minor for sexual exploitation. According to police, Badaracco had several online chats with what he believed was a minor. He eventually asked for sex acts and planned to meet the supposed juvenile in Tempe.

Police said the unit investigates cases based on tips as well as initiating contact with suspects. But Tempe authorities would not specify if they initiated contact with Badaracco, or how long he was under investigation.

Badaracco was arrested on suspicion of five counts of luring a minor for sexual exploitation.