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Phoenix Robberies

Phoenix Struggles With Murders

Overnight Phoenix Robberies

Crime rates are going up and people are being shot over nothing even more. Robberies are a daily occurrence. Police brutality is at an all time high and crime against police officers is always rising. This country is divided and Phoenix seems to never catch a break from the crime.

There were three people shot in two separate armed robberies. The robberies happened withing just moments of each other. This happened overnight in Phoenix. The police are saying that there were at least five other robberies in Phoenix in June. They believe that the same three suspects are behind all of these robberies.

According to the reports , the first robbery happened on a Wednesday and was located near 24th Street and McDowell Road at the 7-Eleven. The first robbery happened just before 1 o’clock in the morning. The Phoenix police officers arrived to the the robbery call and saw that a clerk had been shot in the leg. The Phoenix Police also say that the suspects left the scene in a newer, red, four door sedan vehicle. The car had light colored trim on the edge of the driver’s side.

Robberies Happen in Phoenix

According to the reports, around 1:15 a.m. on Wednesday the officers were called to the Circle K near 23rd Avenue and Thomas Road. The officers have stated that there was an armed man who robbed the Circle K and then shot the clerk and a customer. The customer, reportedly “exchanged gunfire” with the suspect.

The on scene investigators say that the clerk and customer suffered from non-life threatening injuries. According to the responding officers, the suspect jumped into a car that was waiting on him or her and sped away from the scene.

Police say five other robberies are also tied to the same group of men:

  • The first suspect is described as an African American man of an unknown age.

  • The second suspect is described as a Hispanic man in his early 20s who has black hair and was wearing a red bandana over his face.

  • The third suspect is described as a Caucasian or Hispanic man of an unknown age.

Seven robberies are being tied to all three men:

  • June 1, 9:37 p.m.: Subway (32nd Street and Thomas Road) – First suspect was armed with a machete.

  • June 6, 8:16 p.m.: Exxon (32nd Street and Van Buren Street) – Second suspect was armed with a silver handgun and ziptied employees.

  • June 17, 3:05 a.m.: Mobil (Indian School Road and Maryvale Parkway) – A suspect fired shots at the store clerk.

  • June 20, 8:48 p.m.: Panda Express (16th Street and Glendale Avenue) – First suspect fires a shot, points the gun at an employee and then flees in a gray truck.

  • June 20, 9:50 p.m.: 7-Eleven (67th Avenue and Camelback Road) – First suspect shows a weapon and points it at a store clerk.

  • June 22, 12:41 a.m.: 7-Eleven (24th Street and McDowell Road) – Second suspect shoots a store clerk in the leg before fleeing in a red 4-door vehicle.

  • June 22, 1:19 a.m.: Circle K (23rd Avenue and Thomas Road) – Second suspect shoots a store clerk in the arm. An armed customer inside the store shoots back, but was also struck in the leg.

Police are asking that if anyone has any information about the robberies to please call Silent Witness at (480) WITNESS or (480) TESTIGO. There is a reward being offered, $1,000.

Phoenix Police Investigating Robberies

The Phoenix Police are now investigating an armed confrontation at an Ahwatukee grocery store.

Sgt. Jonathan Howard stated that the officers were looking around the neighborhood near Chandler Boulevard and 44th Street for two men. They had threatened a man with a gun after stealing from the store.

Police swarmed the Safeway at 40th Street and Chandler Boulevard. Sgt. Howard said that the investigators were still trying to get detailed descriptions of suspects.

The police decided to close the Chandler Boulevard for the investigation to take place, the road was later re-opened.

The Phoenix police hope to have the surveillance video from the store very soon. Luckily there were no injuries reported and the store is remaining open for business.

 

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Marijuana Problems in Phoenix

Marijuana Problems in Phoenix

Synthetic Marijuana Issues in Phoenix

 

According to the police officials, synthetic marijuana is on the rise. Not just in Phoenix either. A lot of major U.S. cities have recordings of the rise in synthetic marijuana. There’s been a surge of overdoses according to police officials. Even, a rise in violent crime.

The situation is becoming pretty severe. It actually escalated enough that police chiefs had a meeting in Washington has called for development or field tests that can hopefully help the police figure out who the suspects are on the synthetic marijuana.

Police say that the Marijuana is sold in “slickly marketed packets” with names like K2, Scooby Snax and Spice. The drugs are crazy and not smart to be messed with, being that they are made up of a “variety of chemicals” and actually have very little to do with real marijuana.

Chemicals in Synthetic Marijuana

The chemicals that are found in the packets vary. Even the packets that are identically branded have very different ingredients. Most users probably don’t even know what the heck they are smoking.

July the poison control centers in the United States had tallied 4,377 reports of people who suffered from the effects of synthetic marijuana. Last year the numbers were a little lower at 3,682, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers.

The users of the synthetic marijuana are now finding their way onto “police crime blotters”. There was a survey of thirty-five major city police departments across the United States has found out that thirty percent have contributed to some of the violent crimes related to the fake marijuana use.

William Bratton who is the New York Police commissioner has said during a press conference, that he’s calling it “weaponized marijuana”. He also said that it is a growing and huge concern.

 

William Bratton’s Statement:

These dangerous products do not belong on store shelves within our neighborhoods and are a threat to public health.

 

The New York Police Department has also said that there has been more than one hundred overdoes cases in just one month at the Bellevue Hospital trauma center.

In Washington the Metropolitan Police Department has said that there was a man who they believed to be suffering from the effects of synthetic marijuana. The man was on the synthetic marijuana and actually committed a gruesome, fatal stabbing on a metro train. The stabbing wasn’t a secret…he did it in plain sight of anyone who was on the subway on July 4th. The toxicology reports are not public at this time.

The EMS Department has said that their reports show that they have transported 439 people who were suffering from suspected synthetic marijuana overdoses in June.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, most of the synthetic marijuana actually comes from China. It’s then imported to the United States.

Law Enforcement have been trying to crack down on the synthetic marijuana situation. Convenience stores have even pulled items from their shelves. Now users have to use/know code names to get the drugs from store clerks or they can buy it from the street dealers.

The drugs can be very harmful. Causing hallucinogenic effects, nausea, agitation, seizures, and can even get as bad as causing suicidal or violent reactions.  The DEA says that the synthetic Marijuana falls under a “broad label of depressant-hallucinogens”. It actually has trouble classifying due to the several different types of chemicals that the manufacturers are using.

Homeless populations are on the front of heavy overdoses in some of the cities. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington is planning to start giving the homeless shelters presentations about the harmful usage of this drug and other drugs.

Of course the drugs are illegal. However, it’s hard to stop all use of the many different chemicals used to make the synthetic drugs.

There’s some speculation that police officers are looking to “blame” the synthetic drug for the heavy spikes in crime. It’s a big problem in several different communities.

 

Washington’s Metro Police Chief, Cathy Lanier’s Statement:

In some cities, synthetic cannabinoids is a huge issue, in other cities its just beginning to grow. Its connection to violence, that’s a gap that can be fixed.

 

 

Marijuana Drug Bust

 

Drug busts around the border are sadly not uncommon. A recent find by the Customs and Border Protection officers lead to the arrest of two different men. They used “get away” cars to hide a crime.

In July, there were two separate incidents where officers at the Port of Douglas had to inspect as well as confiscate two different cars. Both hiding a total of two hundred pounds of marijuana!

A man from Douglas, who was seventy-years old at the time, got arrested after officers found forty-three pounds of marijuana in the car’s bench set after they inspected the Ford truck he was driving.

The officers also made an arrest against a sixteen year old male from Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico. This was after they also inspected his Pontiac Sedan vehicle and found over one-hundred and fifty-six pounds of marijuana hidden throughout the whole car. Who knew a Pontiac could hold that much?

The drugs and of course, the vehicles had to be seized. The two men then got arrested and taken to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations .

 

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Arizona Drug Smuggle

Arizona Drug Smuggle

Arizona Man Arrested for Drug Smuggle Bust

 

DOUGLAS – Two Arizona men were caught attempting to smuggle thousands of dollars of marijuana near Tucson.

Customs and Border Protection officials arrested a 65-year-old Douglas man who attempted to sneak marijuana taped underneath his arms.

The 65-year-old Arizona man reportedly had more than three pounds of marijuana underneath his armpits, worth $1,600.

A 32-year-old Phoenix man was also arrested at the Douglas border crossing after he was found with 114 pounds of marijuana in the quarter panels and fuel tank of his vehicle.

The drugs were worth around $57,000.

Both men were turned over to officials and the evidence was seized

part 2

Arizona officials have arrested 76 people suspected in the smuggling of at least $2 billion worth of drugs through the state’s western desert in coordination with Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.

“We in Arizona continue to stand and fight the Mexican drug cartels, who think they own the place,” Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said in a statement about the investigation, dubbed Operation Pipeline Express.

“While this is a historic drug bust, sadly this represents only a fraction of what my deputies face every day,” Babeu said.

The arrests were made during a series of recent raids.

Officials said the ring, based in Chandler, Stanfield and Maricopa, used backpackers and trucks to move drugs from the border to a network of stash houses in the Phoenix area. After arriving in Phoenix, the smugglers sold the drugs, which included marijuana, cocaine and heroin, to distributors from various states.

Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the  smugglers succeeded at first because they had established control over an 80-mile stretch of the border from Yuma to Sells, Ariz.

“They had gained a virtual monopoly over a swath of the Arizona border,” she said.

Kice said investigators believe some of those arrested are U.S.-based bosses in the Sinaloa cartel.

“Through our joint efforts, we’ve sent a resounding message to the Mexican cartels that Arizona is off limits to their operatives,” Matthew Allen, special agent in charge of Homeland Security investigations in Arizona, said in a statement.

Officials posted video from the investigation online, including surveillance video of trucks being loaded and driven down desert roads, Border Patrol officers inspecting a roofing truck packed with large bricks of marijuana, and sheriff’s teams making arrests during nighttime raids.

The 17-month investigation, which began with a traffic stop by Pinal County sheriff’s deputies, included three “large-scale enforcement actions”: one last week, another earlier this month and a third last month, according to ICE.

During last week’s raids, authorities seized more than 2 tons of marijuana, 19 weapons and nearly $200,000 in cash, the agency said. It estimates that the drug ring smuggled more than 3.3 million pounds of marijuana, 20,000 pounds of cocaine and 10,000 pounds of heroin into the United States during the last five years.

 

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Animal Fights In Arizona

Animal Fights In Arizona

Animal Fights and Animal Cruelty

 

Animal cruelty is almost just as bad as being mean to another human being. In some cases the fines could be almost as high or more as though you beat a human.

 

Animal Cruelty Laws

 

Sec. 8-3. – Animal cruelty.

A. A person commits animal cruelty if the person does any of the following:

1. Intentionally, knowingly or recklessly subjects any animal under the person’s custody or control to cruel neglect or abandonment.

2. Intentionally, knowingly or recklessly fails to provide medical attention necessary to prevent protracted suffering to any animal under the person’s custody or control.

3. Intentionally, knowingly or recklessly inflicts unnecessary physical injury to any animal.

4. Recklessly subjects any animal to cruel mistreatment.

5. Intentionally, knowingly or recklessly kills or attempts to kill any animal under the custody or control of another person without either legal privilege or consent of the owner.

6. Recklessly interferes with, strikes, kills or harms a working or service animal without either legal privilege or consent of the owner.

7. Strikes an animal with a vehicle resulting in injury to the animal, and leaves the scene without rendering aid and assistance in the care of such animal if such action can be taken with reasonable safety. For the purposes of this paragraph, “animal” means any animal of a species that is susceptible to rabies, except man.

 

It’s pretty sad when you have to have laws telling you to be nice to animals, but sadly that is what this world is coming to. Cruelty, in every form. Recently a woman in Phoenix was put into jail after she shot two dogs who were fighting in her own backyard over the weekend. Is that really jail worthy? The dogs shouldn’t have been in her yard and fighting non the less.

 

The fight happened on Saturday. This was at her home near 27th Street and Union Hills Drive. The court documents show that Katie Pallante who is only twenty-six years old, shot two dogs who were attacking one another in her own yard. At the time of the shooting, she was actually watching over twenty-two dogs and three cats.

 

Miss Pallante told the police that she tried to pull the dogs apart and spray them with water, however the dogs would not stop fighting. She then told them that she had to run inside to keep her four year old daughter from coming out the door. She then grabs her .40-caliber handgun. Which you can’t blame the woman for wanting to keep her daughter safe as well as the other animals. Miss Pallante runs back outside with her gun and then she shot the male dog in the stomach. The court documents also states that she then shoots the female dog who would not stop attacking the already injured dog.

 

Pallante says she didn’t want to kill the dogs,she just wanted them to stop fighting. The court documents show that the male dog did not belong to Pallante. The owner of the female dog is still unknown.  After Pallante shoots the two dogs she then leaves the home and goes to the nearby gas stations so she can pick up some cigarettes and a drink. One of the officers has to tell her to come back to her home. Maybe she isn’t quite as innocent as she first makes people believe.

 

The humane society shows up and takes both of the dogs. They do not know if the male injured dog will survive. Pallante is being booked into jail later on two counts of animal cruelty as well as two counts of discharging a firearm in city limits.

 

So if you hear two dogs fighting in your yard and you and your family are able to stay inside, do so and call the authorities or you can face the same sentence as Pallante.

 

Another Animal Cruelty Case

 

Arizona Proposition 201:

Proposition 201 would amend state law to create the crime of cockfighting. Cockfighting would be classified as a class 5 felony, generally punishable by a possible fine of up to $150,000 and a possible prison term ranging from nine months to two years. Presence at a cockfight would be classified as a class 1 misdemeanor, generally punishable by a possible fine of up to $2,500 and a possible jail term of up to six months. This proposition would extend existing state law animal cruelty exemptions and defenses that apply to lawful hunting, ranching, farming, rodeos and related activities to also apply to cockfighting. The measure passed in 1998 with 68.1% of the vote.

 

Cockfighting is a traditional event, not a good one but many people enjoying watching those poor Roosters kill each other. Some use little boxing gloves to cover the Rooster spurs, some add little blades. This and dog fighting, I find absolutely heart breaking.

 

Now a Phoenix man will no longer be able to torture those poor Roosters. The man has been arrested for his connection with cockfighting at his home which is in Phoenix.

 

Police try to cover these calls quickly but carefully. They want to try to catch all those involved in the illegal cockfighting matches. The police quickly responded to this call of cockfighting. They came to a home near 63rd Avenue and Van Buren Street on a Saturday. While the authorities were there they sadly were witnesses to several injured roosters.

 

Police luckily found and arrested Slivano Tena who is fifty years old for seventy-one counts of animal cruelty. How sad, it’s hard to tell how long the many years and how many fights have happened in Tena’s home. How many roosters had to die just for the enjoyment and betting on one or the other?

 

Luckily the humane society was quick to respond to the cockfighting scene the humane society was able to rescue seventy-one animals from the property. Mr. Tena did admit to owning the property and even renting out individual pens for the roosters.

 

If you know of someone who is fighting rooster, dogs, or whatever please let the local authorities know. Whatever information you give them will be confidential.

 

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Medical Marijuana in Phoenix

recreational marijuana

Medical Marijuana Concerns in Phoenix

Medical-marijuana facilities may soon have fewer options of where to open in Phoenix, through zoning changes the city is considering in advance of a possible statewide vote to make recreational use of the drug legal. Wochit

Medical-marijuana facilities may soon have fewer options of where to open in Phoenix, through zoning changes the city is considering in advance of a possible statewide vote to make recreational use of the drug legal.

The city’s planning and development department is proposing stricter regulations for new dispensaries, cultivation sites and infusion facilities. Industry advocates say the changes would make it even more difficult to find locations where they could operate. 

New medical-marijuana sites would have to be farther from places of worship and residential areas, if the changes are approved. They also would have to follow new requirements on their distance from day-care centers, homeless shelters and youth community centers.

The proposed changes are driven in part by the Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act that could go to voters in November, Planning and Development Director Alan Stephenson said. The initiative would allow adults 21 and older to buy, grow and possess marijuana — which would be taxed — with certain restrictions.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol is still collecting voter signatures to qualify the initiative for the November election.

Phoenix would draft new zoning requirements for recreational uses if the act is passed by voters. But existing medical-marijuana dispensaries would have the right to operate as recreational dispensaries, as the initiative is written now.

That means Phoenix needs to prepare, Stephenson said. The city’s Planning Commission will consider the stricter zoning rules April 7, with a possible vote by the City Council later this month.

“We need to be a little more cautious in how we treat these things,” Stephenson said.

Medical marijuana in Phoenix

 Ryan Lewis of one the employee of Mohave Green’s Choice Cannabis indoor grow operation, located at undisclosed location in Mohave Valley a spans 14,000 square feet across two levels. He also has rooms for trimming, harvesting and packaging. He said his operation can produce about 2,500 pounds each year. Nick Oza/The Republic

Effects on neighborhoods a big concern

City Council members have asked staff to move swiftly on drafting tougher regulations.

Several have raised concerns about how the legalization of recreational marijuana would affect Phoenix neighborhoods, and said the city should be prepared for the initiative to pass.

The city has more than a dozen medical-marijuana dispensaries. Many dispensaries in other parts of the state can now relocate, driving requests for more.

When state voters passed the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act in 2010, dispensaries were limited to one per geographic region— called Community Health Analysis Areas — as designated by the Arizona Department of Health Services. Dense cities like Phoenix have more analysis areas than other parts of the state.

Dispensaries are allowed to locate anywhere in the state after three years of operation, with most now meeting that requirement.

part 2

New medical-marijuana facilities will lose some options of where they can locate in Phoenix, under stricter rules approved by the City Council on Wednesday.

Dispensaries, as well as cultivation and infusion businesses, will have to find sites farther away from residential areas and places of worship than previously required by the city.

Phoenix also added day-care centers, homeless shelters and youth community centers to the list of places a facility must be at least a quarter-mile from.

The City Council voted 8-0 to pass the new regulations with an emergency clause, making them effective immediately. Councilman Sal DiCiccio did not vote.

The changes moved swiftly through the city process as Phoenix prepares for the possible legalization of recreational marijuana through a statewide voter initiative. Updates to the state’s medical-marijuana program mean additional dispensaries could look to locate in the city soon.

 

Council members denied a Planning Commission amendment to allow cultivation and infusion facilities — where marijuana is processed for products like edible goods — to open closer together, a request of industry leaders. Several city leaders asked if the new regulations could be tougher than those proposed.

The changes will reduce the acreage available for dispensaries from 4.1 percent of the city to 2.3 percent, according to a staff report. For cultivation and infusion facilities, that percentage drops from 13 percent to 11 percent.

“I wish I could do more, but our hands are a little tied,” Councilman Jim Waring said.

New rules as strict as possible

Council members voiced particular concern over the Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act that could go to voters in November. If passed, the initiative would legalize recreational use of the drug.

The city would draft new zoning regulations, but existing medical-marijuana dispensaries would be allowed to open as recreational facilities. Waring said he expects to receive neighborhood complaints if that happens.

“We’re doing everything we can to make sure it doesn’t happen to you,” he said.

And the city could see more medical-marijuana dispensary applications soon, said Alan Stephenson, director of the Planning and Development Department.

Dispensaries originally confined to other parts of the state can move after three years of operation. That now includes many of the first dispensaries opened after state voters passed the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act in 2010.

Phoenix also expects the state to release additional dispensary certificates this summer, Stephenson said.

Stephenson said the new rules are as strict as they can be while still allowing medical-marijuana facilities to legally locate within the city. Even tougher regulations could be hard for the city to defend in the case of a lawsuit, he said.

“We can’t use our zoning authority to say, ‘We don’t want those,’ ” Stephenson said.

The changes do not affect facilities already in operation.

Under the new rules, a medical-marijuana facility will have to be 1,320 feet from a place of worship instead of the previous 500 feet. The distance from residential areas doubles from 250 to 500 feet for dispensaries.

The 1,320-foot distance requirement already in place for schools and public parks will apply for day-care centers, homeless shelters and youth community centers.

Dispensaries, cultivation sites and infusion facilities must maintain a one-mile distance from one another. The Planning Commission proposed reducing that to one-third of a mile, based on medical-marijuana industry input.

Demitri Downing, who represents the industry, advocated for that change at the meeting. Landlords are looking to rent out buildings in industrial areas, and the sites have no neighborhood impact, he said.

“You’re encouraging the jobs to go elsewhere,” Downing said of the denial.

Councilwoman Kate Gallego said she foresees the city’s planning decisions to evolve from Wednesday’s vote.

“I am confident we do not have the perfect answers today,” she said.

 

 

 

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Meth Situations in Phoenix

Meth Situations in Phoenix

McCain’s Election Official found with Meth

A woman listed as the RSVP contact for U.S. Sen. John McCain’s re-election fundraisers was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of drug charges after Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies found an active meth lab and other illicit drugs while conducting a search warrant at her north-central Phoenix home, officials said.

The Sheriff’s Office identified one of two people arrested in the drug bust as 34-year-old Emily Pitha, a former member of the staff of retired U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who most recently worked on GOP campaign fundraising.

McCain’s campaign manager, Ryan O’Daniel, issued this response Tuesday night:

“We commend the hard work and dedication of our law enforcement officers in their fight to keep our community safe from illegal drugs and associated criminal activity. The campaign immediately terminated any relationship with Ms. Pitha upon learning of her alleged involvement in the operation.”

A Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office spokesman said authorities were first alerted to possible drug activity at Pitha’s Phoenix home by a parcel in transit from the Netherlands containing over 250 grams of MDMA – raw ecstasy. Detective Doug Matteson, the MCSO spokesman, said Pitha’s boyfriend, 36-year-old Christopher Hustrulid, signed for the packaged when it arrived at their doorstep Tuesday afternoon.

Detectives executing a search warrant at the home discovered an active meth lab, along with unspecified quantities of LSD, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, about $7,000 in loose currency, and counterfeit money, according to Matteson. A separate building on the property was found to have a hidden room that was to be used as a marijuana-grow facility, he said.

Pitha and Hustrulid were arrested and expected to face numerous drug violations, in addition to possible child-endangerment charges.

Matteson said two children living inside the home — ages 5 and 10 — “had easy access to all of (the) drugs and materials, even the bomb-making materials that were located in the back with the meth lab.”

Deputies evacuated occupants of nearby homes Tuesday evening while the sheriff’s bomb squad disposed of the volatile materials used in the meth-making process, Matteson said.

No injuries were reported.

part 2

With the medical marijuana law cutting profits for street dealers, police believe that drug-trafficking organizations are turning to far more dangerous drugs, flooding the streets with cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.

Tempe Police, the DEA and the Arizona Attorney General’s Office attacked that trend in Operation Terminus, a 30-month investigation that resulted in the dismantling of what investigators described as an extensive drug trafficking network that stretched from Sinoloa, Mexico, to Phoenix, Los Angeles and Indianapolis.

Tempe Police Chief Tom Ryff pointed out that the one missing item in this case is marijuana.

During the investigation, there were 77 indictments, with authorities seizing $7.5 million cash, 485 pounds of methamphetamine, 50 Kilograms of cocaine, 4.5 pounds of heroin and 37 firearms.

“Here, in Arizona alone, you can go to a strip mall and purchase marijuana,” Ryff said. “Drug cartels are sophisticated, they are a criminal enterprise. If the money is not there, they are going to change their tactics.”

Ryff praised the Cronkite School at ASU for their work in evaluating the impact of drugs in Arizona as seen in their recent semester long project: Hooked, Tracking Heroin’s hold on Arizona.

“They are plowing marijuana fields and planting opiates. It’s killing our youths. It’s an epidemic,” said Lt. Mike Pooley, a Tempe police spokesman.

Police believe that drug addiction is the root cause of many property crimes, including burglary and shoplifting. Mesa police arrested a suspect last week who told them he used an air gun resembling a pistol to rob a bank in order to pay his heroin dealer.

Operation Terminus started in 2012 with the arrest of an individual named Jesus who was picked up from a different criminal investigation,Tempe police Commander Kim Hale said.

The drug-trafficking organizations are based in the Sinoloa state in Mexico, but the drugs are distributed by local syndicates throughout the Valley and as far away as Los Angeles and Indianapolis, he said.

“Arizona is ground zero for for drugs and our border states have been impacted just as is the borders in California, Texas and News Mexico,” Hale said.

Tempe police released a list of 70 defendants who were charged with a variety of drug trafficking crimes as the result of Operation Terminus.

part 3

An investigation into the theft of a bag of hand sanitizer led to a methamphetamine bust at Mesa Community College’s Red Mountain campus, according to court records.

David Joseph Auer, 43, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of several drug related counts, including possession of a dangerous drug, records show.

Police reportedly found methamphetamine inside Auer’s car after Red Mountain campus security witnessed him remove a large bag of hand sanitizer from a dispenser and put it in his backpack, according to East Mesa Justice Court records.

Auer was seen entering the campus, 2305 N. Power Road, on video surveillance by security guards shortly before 8 a.m. After the alleged theft, Auer went to a green Buick parked inside the campus’s parking lot where he placed the backpack on the passenger seat, records stated.

According to records, Auer was standing next to the vehicle when he was stopped by police and campus security, who identified him based on the surveillance tape.

When police asked him about the hand sanitizer, he denied knowing anything about it and agreed to let them search his vehicle and backpack, records showed.

Police reportedly found two plastic bags of methamphetamine hidden in a pair of boots inside the vehicle, according to court records. Approximately 1.2 liters of Purell Hand Sanitizer was recovered from the backpack, along with a glass pipe believed to be used for smoking methamphetamine, police said.

The hand sanitizer, estimated to be worth $20, was returned to Red Mountain campus security guards, who indicated the college wanted to prosecute Auer for the theft.

Auer told police he is a transient that lives out of his car and stole the hand sanitizer so he would have something to clean himself with later, records show.

 

 

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