April 2010 Archives

Police officers were probably surprised when they saw a man carrying his dead wife's body into Phoenix police headquarters. The Arizona Republic reported that at first police officers thought that 58-year-old Dwight Wesley was the victim of a crime, because he walked into the headquarters covered in blood with a knife in his hand. But then the man admitted that he had stabbed his own wife to death.

The victim, Delores Glover, died from multiple stab wounds, according to Phoenix police Sgt. Tommy Thompson. Phoenix firefighters then tried to revive Delores Glover, but were unsuccessful.

Tempe police are cracking down on underage drinking at Arizona State University and the city of Tempe. Recently, Tempe police caught 85 minors in possession of alcohol and arrested another individual over the age of 21 for allowing minors to congregate to consume alcohol.

Fox News reports that the arrests were part of the Tempe police department's Spring Crimes Operation. Through the operation, police targeted 10 apartment complexes that included The Vue on Apache at 922 E Apache Blvd, Gateway at Tempe at 1595 E University Dr, Gateway at Tempe at 1655 E University Dr, and Vista del Sol at 701 E Apache Blvd.

Phoenix police are now on the lookout for "circuit box prowlers" in the area.

The Arizona Republic reports that several people in the Ahwatukee community have been victims of break-ins after intruders broke into a circuit box and had cut off their homes' power. Police have labeled these types of burglars as circuit prowlers.

There have been at least three incidents of this type of theft in the last few weeks, but so far police have been unable to make any arrests associated with the crime. Phoenix criminal lawyers may also be worried that police will wrongfully arrest somebody that is associated with the incidents, because of how difficult it would be to catch individuals involved in the break-ins.

America's toughest law against illegal immigration has Phoenix criminal lawyers turning their heads and millions of U.S residents crying in outrage. Many lawyers are wondering how such a law can be considered constitutional and expect to see lawsuits relating to racial profiling and discrimination that will challenge such a law like SB 1070.

The passage of Arizona's SB 1070 has certainly put the Grand Canyon state at the center of the ongoing debate on how to deal with millions of people sneaking across the U.S border each year. The law, which was signed by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer on April 23, officially makes it a misdemeanor crime to be an illegal immigrant in the state of Arizona. The East Valley Tribune reports that the crime is punishable by a $2,500 fine and up to six months in jail before deportation.

With April being Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Scottsdale police officers have been doing their part to educate both high school and college students about sexual assault crimes. Arizona Republic reports that police officials along with nurses from the Scottsdale Family Advocacy Center have distributed information to students on how to prevent such crimes.

Law enforcers say that overconsumption of alcohol and over trusting strangers are some of the most common situations that lead to sexual assault crimes. Friending a person on Facebook, MySpace, or other social networking sites can often give a person a false sense of security when trusting somebody. Scottsdale police Detective John Heinzelman calls these types of friends "artificial acquaintances."

Jose Sanz, of Phoenix, seems to be in a heap of trouble with the law because he was booked earlier this week on charges of theft, possession of a dangerous drug, possession of burglary tools, and driving with a suspended license. The man will likely need to call a Phoenix criminal lawyer in order to receive the best defense possible.

Yet even Phoenix criminal lawyers may see the story of Jose Sanz's arrest as rather unusual. The Arizona Republic reports that Mesa police officers started following the suspect around 2:00 a.m. after they had received reports of a stolen vehicle. Officers then tried to pull over the suspect in Tempe, but may have been surprised when the driver jumped out of the vehicle as officers were approaching the vehicle. The driver was then seen running across Arizona State University's Packard Stadium.

Phoenix police found 47-year-old Lincoln Brevard dead in his home on Sunday afternoon with a gunshot wound in his head, and now authorities have identified the man's neighbor, Xavier Jauregui as a suspect in the shooting. The possible neighbor murder has been causing a stir in the neighborhood.

The Arizona Republic reports that 35-year-old Xavier Jauregui is in custody and that the investigation of the neighbor murder is still ongoing. The incident occurred at a Phoenix home near Lower Buckeye Road and 72nd Avenue. Xavier Jauregui initially tried to leave the area in a Dodge pick-up truck, but police were able to contact him by telephone.

Residents of the Grand Canyon state might be surprised when they learn that there's a great deal of mortgage fraud in Arizona. In fact, the Associated Press recently reported that Arizona is among the top five states with the most cases for mortgage fraud. The other top five states include Florida, New York, California, and Michigan.

Now more than ever, Phoenix criminal lawyers are facing the need to know the latest and most up-to-date information on mortgage fraud and real estate fraud. The white collar crime of mortgage fraud is broadly defined as false reprsentation that is linked with the intent to deceive with a real estate transaction. Cash back schemes, income fraud, identity theft, and occupancy fraud are just a few types of fraud crimes that are examples of mortgage fraud. Charges that a suspect could face for mortgage fraud may include grand theft, identity theft, or forgery.

Three people have been accused of shoplifting at the Arizona Mills Mall in Tempe and now face felony charges, according to ABC News.

Demetrius Parker, 20, Rebbe Bennett, 23, and Veronica Lopez, 25, were taken into custody earlier this month for allegedly stealing more than $2,000 worth of merchandise from the mall. Police said that they were able to catch the suspects through surveillance cameras and that authorities saw the suspects taking clothing from different stores without paying.

The Arizona Republic reports that detectives in Phoenix were recently able to identify a suspect to an unsolved murder from 2005. After five years of waiting, many Phoenix community residents are saying that it's about time.

A fingerprint match that was confirmed through the Phoenix Police Crime Lab shows that 29-year-old Termaine Lee is now a suspect in the stabbing of 24-year-old Vester Freeman. Termaine Lee has been indicted on first-degree murder charges, but it turns out the man is already in a New Mexico prison on an unrelated charge. The Phoenix detectives actually had to travel to New Mexico in February to collect DNA from the suspect and conduct an interview. Investigators say that they are still unsure of what the motive was for the suspected homicide.