Recently in Rape / Sexual Assault Category

Mixed martial arts fighter and Tucson resident Michael "Iron Mike" Whitehead was sentenced to prison for felony attempted sexual assault in Nevada, reports the Associated Press.

Whitehead originally faced charges of four counts of sex assault, attempted sex assault and lewdness, but he pleaded the equivalent of no contest last September in a deal with prosecutors in order to avoid trial, according to the Associated Press.

Typically, prosecutors will enter into a plea bargain with the defendant in order to assure a conviction. Conversely, defendants will agree to the deal in order to get a lighter sentence and possibly avoid trial.

With reportedly 425 cases of sexual abuse against children in Maricopa County in the past six months, the need for sexual assault education and prevention is apparent.

The Department of Justice believes revising the definition of sexual assault may help increase the accuracy of reporting sexual assault crimes, and increase understanding about the effects of sexual assault crimes on victims. It recently announced a significant expansion to its definition, which will now include several forms of sexual assault, such as oral penetration, and male rape, according to The Washington Post.

A Phoenix man is facing serious charges after two ten-year-old girls claimed he sexually molested them, reports ABC 15.

Forty-six-year-old John Bain was arrested on Tuesday on charges of three counts of sexual assault, three counts of molestation of a child, two counts of child prostitution, and four counts of furnishing obscene material to a child.

Both victims were reportedly acquaintances of Bain. Police became aware of Bain’s actions when the first victim reported Bain’s lewd conduct to police in November 2011.

A one-time volunteer track coach at a Prescott high school pleaded guilty to sexual conduct with a minor and aggravated assault on Monday, reports The Daily Courier. Due to a plea deal with prosecutors, however, he will likely get three years’ probation in exchange for his guilty plea.

Elisha Humes, a former Chino Valley High School track coach, allegedly had a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student. The amorous couple was caught having sex in his car by a Prescott police officer patrolling Heritage Park in March.

“The sexual activity between Humes and the girl appears to have been going on for a couple of weeks,” Prescott Police spokesman Lt. Tim Fletcher said.

A Phoenix elementary school physical education teacher pleaded guilty to having sex with a minor on Wednesday, reports the Associated Press. The relationship allegedly began when the girl was 13-years-old.

The 32-year-old teacher, Carl Mosher, was originally arrested in February on four counts of sexual conduct with a minor. In an apparent plea bargain with prosecutors, Mosher pleaded guilty to one count of sexual conduct with a minor and two counts of attempted sexual conduct with a minor.

A decades-old Tucson sexual assault case involving a 93-year-old woman may finally have a resolution. With the help of DNA evidence, U.S. Marshals were able to arrest 48-year-old Claude Ranger on Wednesday for the brutal rape, reports the Associated Press.

The elderly victim, Mary Ellen Scott, was found beaten, robbed and sexually assaulted in her assisted living facility room in April 1993. Unfortunately, Scott died that November due to the lasting effects of her injuries and was never able to identify her attacker.

Phoenix police officer Jeffrey Gordon, son of Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, received a police suspension for four days because he allegedly inappropriately touched a female city employee, reports the Associated Press.

Officer Jeffrey Gordon received the police suspension on Friday after he was found to have engaged in the unprofessional conduct of massaging and inappropriately touching the employee in December of last year. He had already been placed on administrative leave while the Phoenix Police Department’s Professional Standards Bureau investigated the allegation.

Authorities arrested Jason Noonkester Sunday night in connection with the gruesome murder of a man and the rape of the victim's girlfriend, reports The Arizona Republic.

Mesa police arrived to find blood-covered walls and the man dead in the kitchen after his girlfriend reported that she had fled her East Valley apartment with her two young children after being sexually assaulted and believed the man may have been killed, according to Mesa officials.

It's not hard to argue that every airplane traveler feels at least a tad bit violated when going through security screening at the airport. On Saturday afternoon, Yukari Miyamae took her frustrations out on a hapless Transportation Security Administration worker's left boob - allegedly grabbing, squeezing, and twisting the agent's breast after refusing to be screened.

She is currently under arrest for suspicion of sexual abuse, reports MyFoxPhoenix.com.

After entering the screening area of Terminal 4 in Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport, the Colorado woman started arguing with TSA officials and refused to be screened, a Phoenix Police Department spokesman stated. The 61-year-old then allegedly got a little too handy with an agent's breast, and the authorities were called.

Rachel Brock could have been sentenced to decades in prison when she faced seven counts of sexual conduct with a minor and one count of furnishing obscene materials to a minor earlier this year. Yet the 22-year-old daughter of Maricopa County Supervisor Fulton Brock was able to work out a plea deal with prosecutors so that she now faces no more than a year in county jail and 10 years of probation when she is sentenced in August.

Brock pleaded guilty to just two counts of child abuse with sexual motivation on Wednesday, reports Phoenix New Times. Believe it or not, this type of criminal charge is actually considered far less severe than the charges of sexual conduct with a minor.