Patrick Trejo, 25, was a music teacher at Raul H. Castro Middle School in Phoenix. He also used Craigslist to try to solicit sex with a dog, which — shocking as it may (not) seem — is a crime.Trejo learned his fate in Maricopa County Superior Court this morning after…
For anyone in the armed-robbery biz, here’s a tip: try robbing a store where the highest-priced item costs more than a buck.That said, after apparently weighing his options of which store to rob at gunpoint, a thief in Mesa settled on the Family Dollar Store near Broadway and Dobson roads…
omparing the victims of snake-oil salesman James Ray’s deadly sweat lodge to dogs left in hot cars has ruffled a few feathers.Imagine that.People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, as we reported last month, was attempting to capitalize on the publicity Ray’s manslaughter case received by comparing the victims of his…
A shooting early this morning in the parking lot of a Phoenix strip club’s left one man dead and police scratching their heads.Mark Curtis Hill, 38, was shot multiple times in the parking lot of Cheeta’s strip club near 7th Street and Indian School Road…
The Congressional intern whom many credit with helping to save the life of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords will throw out the first pitch at Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game tonight at Chase Field in downtown Phoenix.While most interns spend their time filling Starbucks orders and finding ways to screw up making…
Alleged pederast Bradley Gietz and Jose Luis Juarez have a few things in common. For starters, they both work at a McDonalds. They also live together. They also allegedly like sexually abusing little kids and posting photos and video of the abuse on the Internet.As we reported yesterday, one of the…
pleaded not guilty today to charges of first-degree murder after allegedly beating his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter to death last month. If convicted, Martwane Mackey faces a life sentence. Maricopa County prosecutors have yet to decide whether to seek the death penalty. In addition to blunt-force trauma to the girl’s head and…
A Tempe man set his own apartment on fire Friday night, tried to blame the blaze on his next-door neighbor, and then laid down on the ground in front of the burning building and started screaming, according to court documents obtained by New Times.When police got to the apartment at…
Bradley Kirk Gietz is a pretty sick pup — not only is he into kiddie porn, he’s also into his own son.Earlier this month, while investigating kiddie porn found outside of Arizona, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigations obtained several photos of a naked boy under the age of…
Republican presidential candidate/Godfathers Pizza baron Herman Cain has a solution for the immigration problem currently plaguing the United States. It involves a moat, alligators, and a new take on China’s “great wall.”Cain’s archaic solution is as follows: build a moat along America’s southern border, fill it with alligators, and construct…
A school bus aide for the Washington Elementary School District was arrested yesterday on suspicion of molesting an 11-year-old special needs student.Andres Mendoza, 70, was booked into jail in connection with 30 counts of child molesting and six counts of sexual conduct with a minor.Mendoza’s an aide on the bus…
As Casey Anthony soon returns to a society that wants no part of her, a woman in her late 40s continues to sit on Arizona’s death row, convicted nearly two decades ago of killing her 4-year-old son. Deborah Milke’s case was a huge one in the Valley, though it paled…
A six-month internal investigation of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office that resulted in two of Arpaio’s top men being fired will cost the county up to $102,000.The amount is considerably higher than the $46,000 we heard it would cost earlier this year.The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is expected to…
Three Maricopa County employees are heading to mediation talks on Monday with the possibility of settlements in their multi-million-dollar claims against Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former County Attorney Andrew Thomas.This will be the first round of what are sure to be other mediation talks — and potentially quick and lucrative…
Arizona can’t force Jared Loughner to take his anti-psychotic medication for now, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court ruled today.The opinion comes less than a week after U.S. District Judge Larry Burns said Loughner could be forced to take his meds. This spring, the apparently insane Tucson massacre suspect, who shot…
When a creepy stranger clad only black boxer-briefs climbed into a 14-year-old’s bed on Sunday morning and told her to be quiet, the girl made the only sensible choice:Scream. Loudly.Her shouts woke up her 11-year-old brother, who shared her bedroom in the home near Peoria and 7th avenues. The boy…
Normally, possessing photos of Jaden Smith, the star of the most recent Karate Kid movie/son of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, won’t land you in prison.However, if you’re a convicted sex offender currently on probation after getting convicted of child prostitution charges, photos of the 12-year-old star could land you…
Things just got even worse for “reality” porn recruiter Antonio Adrian “Gonzo” Gonzalez.”Gonzo” was charged last month with several kiddy-porn-related charges for allegedly sexually attacking several underage girls he was recruiting for his websites, photosbygonzo.com and gonzomodeling.com — both feeders for the porn website “Backroom Casting Couch” — and now…
The Arizona Supreme Court has again upheld the death sentence of a man who murdered his girlfriend’s 4-year-old son more than 20 years ago.Styers is one of 24 inmates who’s been on Arizona’s death row for two decades or more.In a 4-1 ruling today, the court has again affirmed the…
An arrest has been made in the murders of an Arizona State University student and his friend earlier this week.Read about the murders of pre-med student Tyler Webster, 18, and 19-year-old Olek Wladyszewski here.Jesus Busso Estopellan was picked up yesterday after police discovered text messages exchanged between him and Wladyszewski…
New Times took a look yesterday at Arizona’s 130 death-row inmates awaiting execution. Turns out, nearly 20 percent (24 of 130) have been rotting away/cheating court-ordered death for more than 20 years — on taxpayers’ dime. The extended-stay hotel that Arizona’s death row has become ain’t cheap — last year alone, nearly $600,000…
Kid-killing child molester Richard Bible was executed this morning after sitting on death row — on taxpayers’ dime — for more than 20 years.But Bible’s not the only convicted murderer who’s called death row home for more than two decades. In fact, we crunched the numbers and found that nearly 20…
