Glenna and Lawrence Shapiro were murdered last month in their Paradise Valley home. Six suspects have been arrested in connection to the murder.

​The arrest reports for the six people allegedly connected to the brutal murders of a Paradise Valley couple last month were unsealed this afternoon, but offer little new information about the murders -- it's so heavily redacted that one of the pages is completely blacked out, with the exception of one sentence.

One of the tidbits that isn't redacted is that Michael Crane, the man suspected of murdering Lawrence and Glenna Shapiro, discussed the crimes with one of the other defendants in the case.

According to the report, Crane, 31, told Kelly Ann Steward -- who's charged with theft and trafficking stolen property for allegedly selling property stolen from the Shapiros -- that he burned down the couple's home, presumably in an attempt to coverup the murders.

The manner in which Crane allegedly murdered the Shapiros is redacted in the document, and hasn't been released by authorities.

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Dead puppies are no fun -- just ask 21-year-old Sadie Elizabeth Madrid, who was apparently so bored with her dead dogs that she left them to rot in her apartment for nearly two months.

Madrid's two dogs got sick in early December -- they were throwing up, losing weight, etc. Rather than take the pooches to a veterinarian, or an animal shelter, she left them in her Gilbert apartment in a locked cage with no food or water, which is where they ultimately died.

Then, rather than disposing of the dogs' dead bodies, Madrid left them to rot in the cage for nearly two months -- it wasn't until her roommate noticed a smell coming from her room that the dogs' carcases were discovered.

According to court records obtained by New Times, Madrid's roommate called police on Tuesday, after noticing the smell and finding the dogs' remains.

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MCSO

Yusra Farhan

​Yusra Farhan's daughter recently started talking with a boy. So, Farhan beat her with a shoe and tied her to a bed because her "Iraqi culture states that a female is not allowed to be having contact with males because females are not allowed to have boyfriends," she later told police.

Unfortunately for Farhan, she's in America -- where beating your children is illegal, regardless of whatever draconian culture you subscribe to.

According to court records obtained by New Times, Phoenix police contacted Farhan on Wednesday at St. Joseph's Hospital, where she was visiting her daughter who was admitted for injuries she'd sustained the night before.

As Farhan told police, she's the person who caused her daughter's injuries.

Farhan told police that she'd hit her daughter several times with her hand, and with a shoe, after becoming angry because the girl had started speaking with a boy.

Additionally, Farhan told police, she tied the girl to her bed to keep her from leaving the house.

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MCSO

Otis Magee

​A teen-touching former teacher at a Valley high school was in Maricopa County Superior Court this morning where he was sentenced to three years probation after pleading guilty to one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor with sexual motivation.

Additionally, Otis Magee will have to register as a sex offender.

Magee was arrested in March for an alleged pattern of teen touching dating back to 2008.

Magee, 54, a now-former teacher at Precision High School in Phoenix, got a little grabby with one of his students in December of 2010. According to court documents obtained by New Times, he had similar incidents with at least two other students in a classroom in 2008.

Magee was arrested at Pinnacle High School, where he was substitute teaching, for allegedly touching a 15-year-old family friend -- and student -- as he drove the girl and a friend home from a fast food restaurant.

According to court docs, as Magee drove the girl home, he reached over and tried to touch her vagina over the clothes.

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Glendale Police Department

Daniel Griffith

​The Glendale Police Department has arrested two people they believe are responsible for the death of a person found burned in the desert near the White Tanks Mountains early this morning.

The body has not yet been identified.

Glendale police were contacted yesterday by the Phoenix Police Department about a possible homicide at a home in Glendale. Phoenix police developed the information while investigating a missing person case.

Glendale police assumed the investigation and developed information that led them to the body, which was found near 195th Avenue and Olive Street.

After discovering the body, Glendale police arrested two people, Daniel and Jennifer Griffith.
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Liars

​Remember yesterday when the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office put out a press release saying how it used its "cell phone technology" to track down an inmate who escaped from an MCSO jail? Well, that was bullshit.

We spoke to U.S. Marshal for Arizona David Gonzales this morning, and he tells us the MCSO had absolutely nothing to do with tracking down the inmate, Jairo Contreras.

"We found and tracked that guy and pinpointed him in Santa Fe," Gonzales says. "[The MCSO] gave the indication that they arrested him, or they had something to do with it, which they didn't."

The MCSO didn't immediately respond to our request for comment.

While the MCSO had nothing to do with apprehending Contreras, it had everything to do with allowing him to escape (in an oversized laundry bin that was pushed out of the jail) -- but there was no press release about that, which Gonzales says is not good police procedure.

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The Arizona Wildcats and Colorado Buffs are very similar teams--scrappy, undersized, terrific team defense, very well-coached. The two teams met last month in Boulder, and the Cats lost a one-point heartbreaker.More >>

​Yesterday had both its highs and lows for the Phoenix Suns.

First the good news: Steve Nash was named to this year's NBA All-Star team as a reserve on Thursday, which shouldn't come as a surprise based on his outstanding play thus far in the season (including leading the league in assists).

And now the bad stuff: Planet Orange saw its three-game winning streak snapped via a 96-89 loss to the Houston Rockets at US Airways Center last night after stumbling for most of the game. Nash provided his usually great performance (14 points, 11 assists) and the Suns had a three-point lead after a good first quarter (where they landed 57 percent of their shots), but the Rockets came back big time in the remaining periods.

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Former Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon

​
Phoenix has made public portions of the logs that former Mayor Phil Gordon's security-detail once maintained to track how they spent their time.

Though much anticipated, the documents hardly read like declassified top-secret Pentagon documents. Partly because their release comes more than two years after they were originally requested.

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MCSO

Jairo Contreras

​A minimum-security inmate at one of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's jails escaped "several days ago," but was arrested this afternoon at his girlfriend's house in New Mexico, the MCSO announced this afternoon.

If this is the first you're hearing about an escaped MCSO inmate, that's because the Sheriff's Office didn't mention it to the media until this afternoon, when the escapee was in custody.

Additionally, "several days ago," we've come to find out, actually means inmate Jairo Contreras has been on the run for about two weeks.

Again, there was no press release from the MCSO about the escape, but when Contreras was arrested this afternoon, Arpaio decided to alert the media -- and boast his agency's "cell phone technology" (which, from the sound of things, is little more than calling a cell phone provided and asking for a cell phone number's call history).

As far as sophistication goes, the escape wasn't exactly the Shawshank Redemption -- dude got pushed out in a laundry cart.

"We believe that he got into an oversized laundry cart, covered himself, and was pushed out," MCSO spokesman Jeff Sprong tells New Times.

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A sixth suspect has been arrested in connection to the murders of Glenna and Lawrence Shapiro.

​Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery announced this afternoon that a sixth suspect has been arrested in connection to the murders of a Paradise Valley couple found bound and burned in their home last week.

Additionally, Montgomery defends releasing Michael Crane from custody after he'd been arrested for unrelated crimes just weeks before he allegedly murdered Glenna and Lawrence Shapiro.

Click here to get the details of the murders.

"We did not have enough evidence to to meet our standard on a reasonable likelihood of conviction," Montgomery says of releasing Crane.

Crane was arrested on December 6, and booked into jail on eight felonies, including dangerous drug possession, possession of stolen property, and possession of a weapon by a prohibited possessor.

The December 6, arrest occurred after Crane's grandmother called Phoenix police to have them get Crane and his cronies to move out of a home she owns in the 2500 block of Larkspur Drive in north Phoenix.

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Former Gabrielle Giffords aide Ron Barber hopes to finish his former boss' term in Congress.

​Ron Barber, a former aide to former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, announced this morning that he'll run in the special election to finish the remainder of Giffords' term.

Giffords resigned from Congress last month so she can focus on her recovery after getting shot in the head during last year's shooting rampage outside of a Tucson grocery store. Barber also was wounded during the shooting.

"Our community needs someone who will put politics aside and solve problems for the people of Southern Arizona," Barber says in a prepared statement. "My commitment is to be honest with the people of this district and help restore civility to our public life. My first priority won't be the next election -- but the next generation. That means balancing the budget the right way by protecting Social Security and Medicare, creating jobs, and securing our border."

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MCSO

MCSO Detention Officer Jeffery Higgins

​A detention officer with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office accused of getting drunk and pointing a loaded gun at his own son has pleaded not guilty to one count each of aggravated assault and criminal damage.

Jeffery Higgins entered his plea in Maricopa County Superior Court this morning.

According to court records, the latest incident isn't the first time Higgins has pulled a gun on his son (more on that below).

Police were called to Higgins' Mesa home about 3 a.m. on January 24 after his wife called 9-1-1 to report that her husband was drunk and fighting with their 19-year-old son.

Higgins' son later told police that he'd come home a few minutes before the altercation and found his father "very" drunk. Higgins, in a drunken stupor, then started an argument with his son.

In the middle of the argument, Higgins got up and tried to walk outside to get in his truck. His son followed to make sure his father wasn't going to drive in his drunken state.

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Phoenix Police Department

This woman is NOT the mother of a newborn who was dumped in front of a Phoenix home on Tuesday.

​Phoenix police said yesterday that the woman to the right could potentially be the mother of a newborn who was dumped in front of a Phoenix home on Tuesday. They've since contacted the woman, and it turns out she is NOT the mother of "Baby Kathleen."

"The woman pictured in the photos has been contacted and she DOES NOT have any connection to Baby Kathleen or this case," Phoenix Sergeant Tommy Thompson says. "We are still looking for the Baby Kathleen's mother."

Thompson says Baby Kathleen was found about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday in front of a home in the 900 block of West Kathleen Road -- near Greenway Parkway and 7th Avenue.

The baby was found wrapped in a blanket about 25 feet from the front door of the home.

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Lots of sports action in Tempe this weekend, which for our purposes starts tonight at the Wells Fargo Arena, where the ASU Sun Devils should be in a close, if not so artistic, battle against the equally lowly Utah Utes. More >>

Izrahias Morales

​A Goodyear teen who brought a gun to school to kill his math teacher last year pleaded guilty this afternoon to one count each of attempted first-degree murder and possession of a firearm.

Izrahias Morales was only 15 when he brought the gun to school last February, but was charged as an adult by the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.

According to authorities, Morales brought a loaded, 9-millimeter handgun to Millenium High School in Goodyear on February 12 with the intention of shooting his math teacher in the parking lot after school that day.

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MCSO

Slain MCSO Deputy Bill Coleman

​A scholarship has been set up to honor the memory of slain Maricopa County Sheriff's Deputy Bill Coleman, who was murdered last month while responding to a burglary call at a medical facility in Anthem.

The Rotary Club of Anthem is the group behind the scholarship honoring the slain deputy.

The scholarship provides $1,000 to assist young people pursuing a career in law enforcement, fire fighting, or paramedic training.

"We are touched the Coleman family accepted our offer to honor deputy Coleman in a manner fitting with the courage, dedication, and professionalism he exemplified in our community," Rotary of Anthem President Dave Newham says. "We hope the Coleman scholarship will help offset some of the expenses incurred while seeking training in this noble profession."

Coleman, 50, was fatally shot when he and other deputies responded to a burglary call at a medical center in Anthem about 4 a.m. on January 8.

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​A bill that would replace local police in Colorado City with deputies from the Mohave County Sheriff's Office was unanimously approved by a state Senate committee this morning.

Colorado City, for anyone who doesn't know, is a haven for members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints that straddles the Arizona/Utah border and was once headed by infamous child-raping polygamist Warren Jeffs.

Even with Jeffs locked away in a Texas prison, the FLDS still controls the city -- and apparently its police force, too.

Attorney general Tom Horne is pushing the bill hard, testifying in front of the Senate Government Reform Committee that of the 17 bills he's suggested to the Legislature, getting rid of the "marshals" in Colorado City is the "highest priority" in terms of public safety.

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Brian Weymouth, a Paradise Valley businessman now facing major felony charges, has filed a civil lawsuit in Maricopa County Superior Court against several county officials and a former business partner.

Brian Weymouth, who definitely prefers this photo better to his mugshot.

​ The suit, which was preceded months ago by a Notice of Claim to the county, comes on the heels of our story about Weymouth's myriad legal woes published a week ago and called "Risky Business."

In case you missed it, here it is.

You may want to check the feature out before reading this blog post any further, but whatever.

Weymouth has pleaded not guilty to charges of theft, trafficking in stolen property and other major felonies connected with a November 2009 incident at a closed Mesa restaurant that he owned with a Wisconsin businessman and Brian Day O'Connor--a son of retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor

The restaurant was named after Mexican boxing great Julio Cesar Chavez, who Weymouth represented as an agent for a time before their relationship soured.

Weymouth and his wife Renee filed the lawsuit without official legal representation, though the 53-year-old onetime ASU baseball pitcher told us at one point that former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods was "advising" him.

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www.politicalvelcraft.com

​Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio went hunting for illegals again this morning, this time at a Phoenix maid service business, where his deputies arrested a grand total of two suspected illegal immigrants, neither of whom are drug-dealing gang-bangers -- they're maids.

Per usual, the sheriff conducted his raid of the business under the guise of it being an "employer sanctions operation." Also per usual, no employers were actually arrested.

According to the MCSO, deputies served a search warrant at the business' headquarters -- located at 2521 East Bell Road in Phoenix -- this morning and seized business documents and computers.

Deputies determined that two employees were illegal immigrants using fake IDs to gain employment at the maid service business.
 
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