Phoenix News Blog

Joshua O'Bannion

​The Chandler pastor charged with having sex with a 14-year-old girl at the Christ Life Church in Tempe has been formally indicted on similar but separate charges in Parma, Ohio.

Joshua O'Bannion, 25, was indicted on four counts of sexual battery and three counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.

The indictments were expected.

We spoke with Parma police officials back in September, when the complaints against O'Bannion were made. They told us they were in no rush to charge O'Bannion because he was already in custody in Arizona.

Sister Marguerite Bartz

​The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been entirely unhelpful in allowing the media to properly report just about anything regarding the nun murdered in New Mexico over the weekend.

Last week the bureau told us the murdered nun's car was found somewhere in Arizona -- two days later it told us where. Yesterday, the FBI told us it made an arrest but refused to tell us who was arrested.

The Associated Press was having the same problem we've had in trying to get any information from the super-secret agency (check it out here). However, today, two days after making an arrest, the federal fuzz confirmed the identity of the person it believes murdered 64-year-old Marguerite Bartz.

Anthony Avalos

​For about four months, Yuma resident Anthony Avalos was your typical high school student. He went to class, chased some tail, and played basketball. So, when Yuma Union High School District officials found out that Avalos was actually a 22-year-old man, not a 17- or 18-year-old high school senior, it goes without saying they felt a little duped.

Oh, and the underage high school chick he admitted to police he had sex with while claiming to be a student himself -- she can't be all that thrilled either.

www.kjzz.org

Terry Goddard

​

Can you believe it? Terry Goddard actually made a pivotal decision -- sort of.

He's exploring running for governor.

The avoid-the-issue attorney general filed paperwork this morning to form an exploratory committee to see if he should officially seek the state's top office -- he's "tweeting" about it, too.

"Today I will file papers to explore running for Governor. AZ needs strong leadership focused on jobs & ending partisan gridlock," Goddard posted on his Twitter page this morning.

He made the unofficial official hours after his post with a press release, in which he says the governor's first priority ought to be "restoring and attracting quality jobs."

Can we get a little milk with that toast?

www.ks-net.com

​A 19-year-old Tucson man awaiting sentencing for a fatal crash got busted driving under the influence -- again.

After being convicted on October 30 of driving with an illegal drug in his system and leaving the scene after causing a fatal crash, Pima County Superior Court Judge Deborah Bernini let Miguel Rodriguez remain a free man while awaiting a December 11 sentencing.

Bad move.

www.lighthousepatriotjournal.com

​Sheriff Joe seems to have mistaken a campaign event for a candidate for sheriff in Orange County, California, for a taping of Def Comedy Jam -- Def Comedy Jam with protestors.

 

www.nndb.com

​A candidate for sheriff in Orange County, California, has recruited the help of "America's [self-proclaimed] toughest sheriff" in his bid to win a June election.

This afternoon, Arpaio is in the OC at a fundraiser for one of the county's candidates for sheriff, Lieutenant Bill Hunt.

Arpaio will be speaking on behalf of Hunt and attending a dinner for the candidate.

Nothing like a little (gasp) star power to jump-start a campaign.

Hunt is running against the current sheriff, Sandra Hutchens, in a repeat of the 2006 election for sheriff, which Hunt lost.

Hunt told the Associated Press this week that he admires Arpaio but, if elected, he would go about things a little differently in posher Orange County.

The FBI announced this morning that it has made an arrest in the case of the nun murdered in New Mexico over the weekend -- and that's about it.

Sister Marguerite Bartz

​For some reason, the FBI is not revealing any details about the person arrested, other than the suspect was picked up early this morning and this obvious message in a statement yesterday: "Sister Bartz did suffer substantial trauma, likely as a result of a violent confrontation with her assailant or attacker."

Well, no shit.

On Tuesday, the FBI announced that 64-year-old Sister Marguerite Bartz's beige 2005 Honda CR-V was found somewhere in Arizona. Later in the day it revealed that "somewhere" was in fact Cottonwood, a small town in the northeastern part of the state.

​What do you call a dog with two legs? Who cares, it still won't come when it's called (badop-ching).

Yet the Arizona Humane Society has got itself a 6-week-old female chihuahua that needs a little help.

"Rue," as staffers are calling the pooch, was born with only its two hind legs and brought to AHS by her owners because they didn't think they can care for the dog's special needs.

www.tribunecarfinder.com

​Big bonuses for execs of failing companies seems to be the common theme in business culture these days, and the East Valley Tribune and its parent company, Freedom Communications, apparently are no exception.

The Trib will cease to be after December 31, putting an end to a newspaper that thrived for more than a century. What you may not know is that as the paper was laying off employees and moving from being a daily to a three-day-a-week paper, Freedom Communications execs got about $2.6 million in bonuses.

Our friends at Heat City did the leg work on this one and got access to court documents filed in Freedom's bankruptcy case. If you're one of the roughly 140 people laid off by the Trib, or someone who is just pissed to see another newspaper fail, get ready to blow a gasket.

​When U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement conducted an immigration sweep in northern Arizona in November, 2008, as a part of "Operation Return to Sender," they touted it as a program designed to target and deport dangerous criminals.

As it turns out, most of the people arrested didn't have any criminal record at all.

Of 80 people arrested between November 19-22, 2008 in northern AZ, only two were considered "criminal fugitives"-- the people the program was designed to target -- according to official ICE documents obtained by the ACLU through a freedom of information request. And only 14 of the 80 were "immigration fugitives" -- individuals who received deportation orders but did not leave the country.

Forty-three of the 80 were picked up through local law enforcement efforts that would have proceeded regardless of the raids, and 23 were "incidentals" -- people who happened to be at businesses or homes when authorities were looking for someone else, according to an ACLU statement.

James Ray (left) with Larry King and Wendy Walker

​Self-help guru and "Spiritual Warrior" James Ray, the focus of a homicide investigation stemming from the deaths of three people in a sweat lodge ceremony near Sedona, has put his house up for sale.

Ray was also named in two lawsuits filed last week, both stemming from the sweat tent debacle -- probably a good time to ditch some assets.

Jan

​We're sure the anticipation has been killing you, but the word around the water cooler is that Governor Jan is expected to announce her candidacy for a full term as governor tonight.

www.imdb.com

​Last month, about 10,000 copies of the University of Arizona's student newspaper were stolen from various newsstands across the university. They were found the next day, dumped in various locations on the outskirts of the campus.

You may be wondering "why the hell would anyone steal 10,000 free student newspapers?" If you ask the editorial staff at the Daily Wildcat, it was to keep people from reading about the latest fraternity date-rape story.

Tim McDonnell, News Editor for the Wildcat, claims that members of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity at U of A sent at least two "pledges" to steal as many papers as possible to keep people from reading an article in the paper's "Police Beat."

The article, according to McDonnell, was about a girl who filed a police report saying she had been drugged at a Phi Kappa Psi party and thought she may have been raped while she was blacked out.

We've been getting a bunch of emails from folks inquiring about the status of the Deborah Milke murder case.

​When we last wrote about the infamous case involving the mom convicted of orchestrating the murder of her 4-year-old son (she supposedly sent him "off to see Santa Claus"), we noted that a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel unanimously had ordered a federal judge in Phoenix to conduct a critical evidentiary hearing within 60 days.

That order came on September 29, and the Phoenix hearing was scheduled to start November 16. People have been wondering if we are going to be there, and the answer is yes.

But everyone will have to wait a bit longer.

At the request of Milke's attorneys, the big hearing has been postponed for another 45 days, which probably will move it to early January.

The federal appellate panel stunningly concluded that there is "no evidence" that Milke (pictured) "voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently" waived her Miranda warning against self-incrimination before allegedly confessing to a Phoenix police detective back in December 1989.

 

www.yfred.com

​The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors thinks it may have solved its photo-radar problem. Sorry, they're not getting rid of the damn things, they're just going to charge you more if you ignore the ticket, as many often do.

After a brief hearing this morning, the board voted to approve an additional $20 court fee for those who ignore citations and have to go to court.

Supervisors Max Wilson, Mary Rose Wilcox, and Fulton Brock approved the measure, while Supervisor Stapley recused himself, and Andrew Kunasek was not at the meeting.

A call to Stapley's office to try and find out why the supervisor recused himself was not returned this afternoon.

​Keep your pets close to home, because there's a new strain of rabies in Arizona -- and it's spreading.

Known as "Big Brown Bat," the virus appears to have mutated and is jumping species. Skunks and foxes are getting it -- without having had any contact with bats.

"Usually it'll dead end in the other animal," says Carol Chambers, a professor of wildlife ecology at Northern Arizona University. "In this case it didn't -- it has evolved into a strain that can persist in animals and be transfered from skunk to skunk."

The scariest part of the virus? Animals don't need to be bit to get it. It's appears to be spread socially.

Keith and Stacy King

​There are few things in the world more maddening than having your luggage lost when traveling and even fewer things more cathartic than going berserk on the airline representative when he or she tells you it may never be found.

Phoenix police yesterday managed to track down more than 1,000 pieces of lost luggage and it turns out, they weren't lost because of airline incompetence -- entirely, anyway.

www.topfarm.com

​It's that special time of year for stoners all across Arizona -- time to harvest the chronic. Don't get too excited, the Arizona Department of Public Safety is on the prowl.

In the past week, the DPS has seized more than1,300 pounds of weed in the town of Benson alone (single tear).

www.newswok.com

​

Country Music Television found a Gilbert couple who it thinks could be some of the strictest parents in the world, and they will be featured in an episode of the World's Strictest Parents.

James and Janee Gentrup let two monstrous teens named Ronnie and Christiana into their home for a week to try to do what the kids' own parents couldn't -- tame them.

www.ebaumsworld.com

​A 22-year-old Mesa woman accused of leaving a fetus in a backpack had criminal charges against her dismissed today in Maricopa County Superior Court.

Back in March, police at the Gila River Indian Community found a backpack under a tree while on a routine patrol about five miles southeast of Sacaton.

Inside the bag, there was an infant baby boy -- dead, and wrapped in vinyl sheets. The umbilical cord was still attached.

Police traced the baby back to Faith Hope Cadd, who was arrested in April.

​

In an announcement from the ninth floor today, Governor Jan and the brew crew confirm that Anthony Rodgers will be leaving his position as head of the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, and the administration has already found a replacement.

"I am pleased today to announce the appointment of Mr. Tom Betlach as the new AHCCCS Director," Brewer says in the statement. "Tom has served as an instrumental component of the AHCCCS leadership for nearly eight years, and I am very pleased he has accepted this expanded role."
 

www.truecoyotelove.com

Bring the pain indeed

​Did you see the Coyotes lose to the L.A. Kings last night? If you did, it was more than likely on television because Jobing.com Arena was virtually empty.

The Phoenix Coyotes broke a record last night that was set as recently as Saturday -- fewest tickets sold.

Diocese of Gallup

Sister Marguerite Bartz

​

The vehicle of a New Mexico nun, who police say was murdered on Halloween, was found Monday in Arizona.

The nun, 64-year-old Sister Marguerite Bartz, was found dead in her New Mexico home after she didn't show up to mass on Sunday.

Bartz was serving at a church in a Navajo community near the Arizona-New Mexico border, when the FBI says she was murdered either Saturday night or Sunday morning.

www.fugly.com

​A Phoenix man was arrested Monday night after two children under his care got burned while playing with a fire in the man's backyard.

The Phoenix Fire Department was called to a house near 83rd Avenue and west Buckeye Road, where there were reports of a burn victim.

When fire units got to the house, they found a the 32-year-old homeowner's son with first-degree burns and a 12-year-old neighbor with first- and second-degree burns.

www.virusdefeat.com

​The County Attorney's Office announced today that a Valley woman, who pleaded guilty in September to charges of aggravated assault and unlawful flight from a law enforcement vehicle, will spend 15 years in prison.

Phoenix Police Department

Justin James Pare

​A Phoenix man had the tables turned on him Friday night after the people he was trying to rob took a baseball bat to his face.

www.camelclutchblog.com

Sergeant Slaughter

​The gruff ex-wrestler known throughout the world as Sergeant Slaughter will be gracing an event at the Phoenix International Raceway later this month.

Stock-car racing and professional wrestlers -- this just screams class.

On November 15, Slaughter will serve as the Honorary Race Official for the Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500.

American Mustache Institute

D-Backs pitcher Clay Zavada receiving his Robert Goulet Mustached American of the Year Award in St. Louis Friday night

​The votes are in, and the winning whiskers of the coveted "Robert Goulet Mustached American of the Year Award" belong to Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Clay Zavada.

​The Internet is picking off newspapers left and right and the latest victim: The East Valley Tribune.

Heat City is reporting and the twitter-sphere is abuzz with news that the Trib will stop the presses for good on December 31.