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 In Utah, Hildale Justice Court Judge Walter Steed, who has been charged with bigamy and recommended for removal from office, has decided to fight his case in the Utah Supreme Court.

 Arizona Post executive director Tom Hammarstrom said the outcome of the meeting means the two men already decertified in Utah no longer hold peace officer certification in Arizona.

 Post's decision followed in the footsteps of the Utah division of Peace Officers Standards and Training, which revoked certification for the two officers in Utah in March. Barlow was decertified due to bigamy violations while Roundy was decertified for violating the bigamy laws as well as improper handling of a child sex abuse case.

 Arizona Post began its consideration of complaints against the two officers - who are no longer employed by the Colorado City Marshall's Office - in April.

"The board found that their conduct violates our rules in several important ways," Hammarstrom said. "One, they can not serve if their certification is revoked in another state and Utah's findings supported that the officers violated the statute of bigamy."

 Officers employed by the Colorado City Marshall's Office are certified in both Utah and Arizona since the department services the twin cities of Hildale and Colorado City. The majority of the residents of the two towns, once called Short Creek, is primarily made up of those in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The church's prophet, Warren Jeffs, is wanted on several charges, including sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. Jeffs, whose whereabouts are unknown, is also charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. A federal arrest warrant was issued on June 27.

 Neither Sam Roundy - who resigned from the police force the end of June but stayed on at the Colorado City Council's request until July - nor Vance Barlow attended the hearing.

 When reached by telephone, Roundy said, "I am not interested in talking to you" before saying thanks and hanging up. Barlow also said he was not interested in commenting about the hearing.

 Hammarstrom said the former peace officers have recourse in the courts, but said it was very uncommon and very unlikely for an appeal to be filed. He also said no other officers working for the Colorado City Marshall's office were under investigation.

 "Right now there is no open investigation, but we will initiate one if there are allegations of conduct contrary to the rules," Hammarstrom said. "Based on our information currently, none of the other officers have multiple wives."

 Hildale Justice Court Judge Walter Steed, however, is fighting his bigamy case. Earlier this year, the Judicial Conduct Commission concluded that Steed has willfully engaged in bigamy, a third-degree felony in the state, and recommended Steed's removal from office.

 Attorney Rodney Parker will argue that case before the Utah Supreme Court next month. Parker is also representing former Colorado City police officer Rodney Holm.

 Parker said there is a difference between the Holm and Steed cases in that with Steed, who has three wives, all were adults when the marriages took place.

 Parker said in the bigamy statute, there is a term "purport to marry" or "Enter into a marriage relationship recognized by the state" - neither of which Steed did.

Steed legally married one woman and entered into a religious arrangement with the other two.

 "It's a religious arrangement. Judge Steed is not purporting to marry (more than one woman)," Parker said. "And the cohabitation problem is unconstitutional. People do it all the time."

 Since Steed's Supreme Court case is only a few weeks away, Parker did not want to comment much about the case, but he said he would raise the validity of the bigamy statute.

 Meanwhile, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard has asked the Department of Justice to look at the police department as a whole because of the possibility of civil rights violations of the people who live in Colorado City.

 "We didn't specify a specific issue," said press Secretary Andrea Esquer. "We left it open to look at all issues.

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   09/14/2005 - TUCSON - A Pima County sheriff's deputy remains on administrative leave after he was pulled over by the department's DUI squad, authorities said.

 Officer Karl Kapferer, an 11-year-veteran who patrolled the Foothills area, was charged with driving drunk after he was stopped for a traffic infraction early Monday.

Kapferer was driving his personal vehicle at the time.

 He was cited and released and will be on administrative leave pending the outcome of the DUI and internal investigations, according to the sheriff's department. 

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   09/05/2005 - On Friday, September 2, A Christian was once again cited for exercising his First Amendment Rights on a public sidewalk in Richmond, Virginia.

 For years the Richmond Police Department has misused its authority and abused law abiding citizens whose only crime is that they take seriously the Scriptural command to share the Gospel in the public square.

 This most recent act of harassment was once again perpetrated by Officer Howard Noyse, Badge# 7630.

 After two useless "investigations" into their own department, the RPD has done absolutely nothing to rein in this abusive officer.

 Every time we are forced to return to court to face fabricated charges, we are vindicated.

 "What is it going to take to make the RPD enforce the law upon their own? This abuse of power and harrassment has become a regular occurance and the RPD has shown no desire to act on the behalf of those who are the victims of thier rogue cops." said Dennis Green, director of Life and Liberty Ministries.

 Each incident has involved RPD Officers who are on the payroll of abortion clinics located within the city. One must wonder if their is corruption at the higher levels of the RPD for this unbearable situation to go on year after year.

After being cited Mr. Fred Neal said,

 "How is it that after so many years and letters, the RPD continues to ignore the voice of the poeple? You have to wonder why if it's not corruption, what can it be? At the very least it must be the love of money that would motivate them to jeopardize their own reputation and the reputation of the Department."

Mr Neal's court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 20, 2005.

 Please let your voice be heard. Write to the RPD and the Mayor to express your concerns and ask that the RPD will put a stop to the continued abuses.

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08/18/2005 - EL PASO, Texas -- Thursday morning 38-year old Philip Amato was arrested and charged with sexual assault of a child.

 Investigators say Nava and Amato had sex with the girl for the last 3 years, starting when the girl was 14. The relationship ended this past May.

 The arrest affidavit says the girl was a friend of Luis Nava's daughter. He is accused of having intercourse and oral sex with her, as well as taking polaroid pictures of them having sex. Investigators found 2 of the pictures in Nava's locker at the police station.

 She says Amato started having sex with her at about the same time. When she was 16, she says she had sex with Amato while Nava watched.

 Amato and Nava are both suspended without pay and they could be sentenced to 20 years in jail. Both could be fired as soon as a week from today.

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  08/08/2005 - Surprize, Ariz. -- As Kraig Robert Clark was preparing to be sent to prison on sex charges, the former Tempe police officer dropped a bombshell: He admitted to the murder and dismemberment of a 13-year-old Apache Junction boy, according to Surprise police reports released Friday.

 Clark, who turns 39 on Monday, apparently wanted to get the slaying off his chest after he was found guilty May 31 of multiple sex crimes involving other boys.

 During a voluntary interview with authorities, Clark confessed to strangling Jamie Jarosik on Feb. 19, 2004, after engaging in sexual acts with the boy at Clark's apartment in Surprise, police said.

 Clark also confessed to purchasing an electric saw at a Surprise Wal-Mart, which was used to dismember the boy inside of a shower and to put the parts in plastic bags. The parts were placed in a refrigerator and a large plastic cooler with wheels while Clark scouted for a place in the desert to get rid of the body.

 Later, he drove the body parts to 219th Avenue, north of the Sun Valley Parkway, where he burned the remains with pallets before burying them.

 Clark and his lawyer, Daniel Patterson, a deputy Maricopa County public defender, made the confession on June 29.

 Two weeks later, Clark pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the death and was sentenced to life in prison, officers said. Clark also was sentenced to in 162 years in prison on more than a dozen sex crimes, according to Superior Court records.

 During the sex-crimes investigations, Jarosik's name came up, but nothing could be established about what happened to the boy, who police described as a runaway.

 After the confession, Clark took investigators to the area where he buried the remains in a failed attempt to find them, said Officer Marci Darrow, a Surprise police spokeswoman.

"There has been so much rain and new vegetation that he couldn't find the right spot," Darrow said. "Even cadaver dogs haven't been able to discover the right spot."

 Two days before Clark pleaded guilty, police went to the Apache Junction home of Michael Jarosik, the father, to inform him about Clark's confession.

 Neither Jarosik nor Patterson, the attorney for Clark, could be reached Friday for comment about the case.

In their report, police said Clark was working as a pizza deliveryman when Jamie Jarosik was killed, but has previous employment as a cop.

 He was a Tempe police officer from May 1987 through July 1991 and a Mohave County sheriff's deputy from August 1991 to September 1992.

Clark resigned from the Tempe job amid allegations of sexual contact with a minor boy, but Maricopa County prosecutors declined to file charges, Surprise police said.

Police said Clark lost the Mohave County job after a 14-year-old boy, the son of another deputy, accused Clark of molestation.

Clark was indicted by a Mohave County grand jury on 10 counts of child molestation, but prosecutors dropped the case after the boy was killed in an accident near Lake Havasu City.

Prosecutors struck a deal in which they dismissed the case in return for Clark's surrender of his Arizona peace-officer license, thus barring him from getting another job as a cop.

Clark later obtained employment with a civilian contractor as a security guard at Luke Air Force Base, police said.

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06/19/2005 -Flagstaff Arizona - A former Flagstaff police officer was sentenced to two years of probation for stealing nearly $1,800 from a man he had arrested for drag racing.

 David T. Dyer, who was fired because of the theft, had pleaded guilty last month to one count of felony theft, which could have put him in prison for about two years.

 "I would hope the sentence would reflect the seriousness of the offense and make the statement that such activity by our police officers is absolutely not tolerable," police Sgt. Mike Terrin said after the sentence was handed down Thursday

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  06/07/2005 - A Maricopa County sheriff's deputy was indicted on sexual abuse charges involving a 15-year-old girl he is accused of fondling while she was handcuffed, authorities said Tuesday.

John Springfield, 36, an eight-year veteran and former training officer, has been on paid administrative leave from the sheriff's office since December, according to Sheriff Joe Arpaio. "He violated the public trust and he will have to pay for it," Arpaio said.

Springfield was placed on leave about a month after the sheriff's office learned of an accusation that he groped the girl in his patrol car after he pretended to arrest her in front of her church group. "It was on a lark, or a challenge," Arpaio said. "She agreed to be handcuffed."

 At the time of the alleged incident in July, Springfield was a patrol officer at Canyon Lake, where the girl was on a church outing. The accusation was not reported until November, when the girl's relatives, including her brother, who is also a deputy with the office, told authorities. In January, Arpaio said his office learned of another similar allegation involving a 16-year-old girl who said she was also fondled in the back of a patrol car. An investigation into that incident is ongoing, Arpaio said. During both alleged incidents, the sheriff said Springfield was on-duty.

 A woman who answered the phone at Springfield's home referred comment to attorney Robert Kavanagh.

 "He's not guilty and we will defend that," Kavanagh said. The attorney said neither he nor Springfield had seen the indictment. Kavanagh said they were also denied requests to see a sheriff's office investigative report and had no further comment until they knew more about the allegations.

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  06/07/2005 - Apache County Sheriff Brian Hounshell, 39, was indicted last week on charges of theft, fraudulent schemes and artifices, and two counts of misuse of public monies, a felony, by an Arizona grand jury.

The charges stem from a seven-month investigation in the suspected theft and misuse of about $8,000 in public money over a five-year period.

 Public Information Office Andrea Esquer of the Attorney General's Office said a second person has been charged with two counts of misusing public money, as well, but the name and information relating to the second person was not immediately available. It was expected to be available May 31.

 According to the indictment, the alleged crimes occurred between Jan. 1, 2000 and Dec. 31, 2004, and charge Houshell "knowingly transferred such public money when not authorized or directed by law for property or services in Apache County, Maricopa County, Navajo County, Gila County and/or Coconino County."

 The attorney general's office served subpoenas on the Apache County Board of Supervisors and sheriff's department for financial and personnel documents late last year.

Apache County has also hired an outside agency to conduct another investigation, following a complaint filed by an employee of the sheriff's office.

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  05/30/2005 -A week after the city paid out $2.4 million in a civil lawsuit involving the use of a Taser, police are adding restrictions to its stun-gun policy for officers and providing specifics for when the weapon should be used.

 Mesa Police Chief Dennis Donna approved changes to the Taser policy last Thursday, less than a week after Mesa paid $2.2 million to Bruce Bellemore, who fell 10 feet out of a tree onto his head in February 2004 after an officer fired a stun gun at him. The city also paid $200,000 to the hospital that cared for Bellemore, who was left a quadriplegic.

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  05/30/2005 - The State Grand Jury today issued a felony indictment against Apache County Sheriff Brian Hounshell. He's charged with two counts of misuse of public moneys, one count of fraudulent schemes and artifices and one count of theft.

 The charges stem from an investigation by the Arizona Attorney Generals Office.Investigators were looking into allegations that Hounshell misappropriated from Apache County more than eight-thousand dollars in public moneys and equipment for his own personal use or benefit between 2000 and 2004.

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   ARIZONA -- They're paid to protect and to serve, but a valley police officer is off the street accused of a violent crime.  And it's not the first time.

  CBS 5 News has learned this officer has a history of domestic violence. In fact he was fired from the Glendale Police Department a couple of years ago for roughing up his girlfriend. Now he works for Buckeye Police Department and he's been arrested again.

 John Martinez hasn't been with the Buckeye Police Department long but he's already making a name for himself for the wrong reasons.

 The police report paints a disturbing picture of the 31-year-old officer who was arrested in Surprise a few weeks ago for domestic violence.

Martinez is accused of showing up unannounced to his ex-fiances house then verbally abusing and degrading her.

 The report states Martinez smacked her on the buttocks then groped her breast, saying she had better let him touch her because "no one else would want to."

He also allegedly pulled the phone from the wall when she threatened to call police.

 CBS 5 News learned Martinez was placed on administrative leave then allowed back on patrol to respond to calls ranging from burglary to domestic violence.

 Dan Saban is the new police chief of Buckeye. He took over just a couple weeks ago and says when he learned one of his officers had a criminal case pending against him the chief pulled Martinez off the street.

Saban says the decision to allow Martinez back on patrol was made by the previous administration.

They're also the ones who looked beyond Martinez's checkered past when he was hired a year and a half ago.

Officer Martinez was fired from the Glendale Police Department in February of 2003.

 His termination letter clearly states his firing was based on another domestic violence incident again involving his girlfriend.

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  07/14/04 -- A youth corrections officer faces up to 8 1/2 years in prison for having sex with a 16-year-old inmate.

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  June 12, 2004 - A Chandler narcotics detective sent a five-page letter of resignation to the police chief Thursday, claiming he was forced to leave because of "discrimination, harassment, assaults and retaliation."

 Will Russell, who had been on the force six years, said his supervisor, Sgt. Dale Walters, retaliated against him and a female officer for questioning what they saw as misconduct in the unit.

Russell also accused Walters of sexism and being a "lying racist."

 "My position on the team deteriorated for any number of reasons, including my being Native American, my opposition to a complete disregard for officer safety issues and my calling attention to missing evidence, to name but a few," Russell wrote. "I was harassed beyond belief, being punched in the groin, called (racial epithets). I was assigned to menial tasks and my legitimate cases were scuttled, undermined and left to languish."

Police Chief Sherry Kiyler released a statement saying she accepted the resignation, and that Russell's allegations had been investigated. Most of the allegations were unfounded, according to the statement. Kiyler declined further questions.

Officers Involved: Armando Teyechea

Location: Arizona

  O5/25/2004 -- Officer Michael Hood was dispatch to catch a run away from a residential psychiatric center for children. Hood caught the girl and handcuffed the 9-year old girl and placed her in the back of his patrol car. The girl was a runaway from a Children's Home, a school for special needs children. Hood later requested assistance from Armando Teyechea, specifically asking that Teyechea bring a Taser. At some point Armando Teyechea used a taser gun administering 50,000 watts to the child. The girl is all of 4 feet 7 inches and 85 pounds!

Officers say that the 9 yr old was too much to handle because she was kicking and swearing at them. Teyechea then shocked the girl with 50,000 volts. Officers warned her that if she didn't mind them and calm down they would do it again!

 South Tucson Police Chief Sixto Molina said he released the reports filed by Hood and Teyechea so that the public could be "informed" of the facts that actually happened. Molina said he feels he should have got the facts out sooner but he didn't want to prejudice the sheriff departments investigation.

Mike Storie, Teyechea's attorney, said the more facts that are shared, the better people will understand what actually occurred and why Teyechea used the Taser.

Storie said he has seen prior reports on officers' contact with the girl and that they're consistent with her behavior on May 8.

- Yes Mr. Storie please share with us your facts why a 9 year child has to be shocked with 50,000 watts because she's not minding?

- Why is it that two adult police officers and two adult officials from the Arizona's Children Association, couldn't handle a 4 foot 7 inch 9 year old girl, who has her hands handcuffed?

- How were her hands handcuffed? In front of her or behind her back?

- Four adults with a combine weight of probably 700 pounds couldn't hold a 85 pound child down while officers shackled her legs?

- The Police Dept. has said that they have had other prior contacts with this child. What did the dept. do as far as training officers for future contact with this child or others like her? Is a Taser gun the first and only option?

** Now days you can't slap or spank a child because their "misbehaving"! If a parent does spank, oh watch out! Child Protective Services would be all on the parent, as well as the cops for child abuse. Yet its OK to shock a 9 year old child with 50,000 watts?

- My understanding there has been no "complaint" filed by either the Children's Home or the childs parents? Is the child custody of the State or maybe that's how her parents would have handled the situation? Mr. Storie is this how you handle your children ??

- What would have been the next steps for the officers if the Taser didn't work to calm her down? Shoot and kill her? Where do you draw the line?

Plain and simple that was child abuse and child endangerment!

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Officer Involved: Martin Wolfe

Location: Arizona

 05/18/04 -- An officer who said he mistook his handgun for his Taser and accidentally shot a man had extensive training with the weapon, according to his training records.

Officer Martin Wolfe, a four-year veteran with the force, also met expectations as an officer in recent evaluations in the areas of safety and knowledge about his job.

 Wolfe and Christina Parra, an officer since January 2002, were responding to a call find a man the clerk recognized from previous shoplifting incident. Wolfe and Parra caught up with the man. When the officers tried to speak with the man, he became upset, shoved Wolfe, tried to punch him, and tried to get away. Parra fired her stun gun at Wright, missing. Wolfe later told a detective that he intended to use his stun gun to stop Wright as he tried to get away, but mistakenly drew his service weapon and fired.

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  May 11, 2004 - Apache Junction interim Police Chief Steve Campbell wants to make his job permanent. Campbell announced Friday that he will be among those meeting a May 28 deadline to apply for former Chief Robert Warners job. Warner resigned in December after an independent audit cited evidence of ignored resident complaints, little disciplinary action for police misconduct, a sharp decline in solved cases and accusations that crime statistics had been manipulated.

 Campbell, a Phoenix Police Department commander, agreed to come to Apache Junction to begin implementing several recommendations made by the Virginia-based firm of Carroll Buracker & Associates.

 Now, Campbell said he would like to be a part of the departments future. Already, Campbell said morale is improving within the department with the implementation of new policies and procedures pertaining to report-taking, data entry and internal affairs investigations.

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Officer Involved: Kevin S. Baxter, 31

Location: Arizona

  5/10/2004 -- Officer Kevin S. Baxter, 31 was stopped by another officer at a car wash, Baxter had been in an accident minutes earlier. Officer said that Baxter smelled of alcohol. Baxter did not obey commands at the carwash and had to be held at gunpoint until more officers arrived at the scene. Baxter was charged with one count each of aggravated assault, leaving the scene of an accident with injuries and criminal damage, and three counts of endangerment.

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Officers Involved: Charles Ken Walter

Location: Arizona

  04/27/04 -- A retired Tucson police officer who sought an Internet relationship with a teenage girl must complete three years' probation and undergo counseling as part of a sentence. Charles Ken Walter also must register as a sex offender.

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  04/04 2004 -- Officer who thought he was facing an armed suspect shot and killed a 38-year-old man during a drug raid about 9:30 p.m. Friday, police said. The man turned toward Officer Steve Ecker, 46, with a cellphone in his hand and was shot with an automatic AR-15 rifle, according to police. Ecker said he told the man in both English and Spanish to raise his hands.

Police said they raided the apartment after receiving information that suspects at the apartment in the 1400 block of East Taylor Street were selling drugs and had rifles. There were no drugs found, but police said they found a rifle and scales in the attic. Another man in the apartment, who was questioned and released, said the two men had run out of drugs before police arrived.

 Ecker, a 25-year department veteran, is on paid administrative leave, a standard procedure. Investigations by the homicide division and another by the police professional standards bureau are under way. The homicide investigation results will be forwarded to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office for review. A use-of-force board will also review the case.

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Officer Involved: David Lopez

 A Tucson police officer is caught on tape with his hands around the neck of a 17 year old burglary suspect. Seven year veteran officer David Lopez has been reassigned to the evidence section at TPD. He's been taken off the street until internal affairs finishes its investigation, which could take several weeks.
 Lopez was assisting in the arrest of 17 year old Craig Ehrhorn in the Park Mall parking lot
 December 5th. The security videotape, released by the Tucson Police Department, shows Ehrhorn handcuffed and standing near a patrol car. It appears Ehrhorn threatens to spit or does spit in the direction of the officer. It isn't clear if Lopez was struck by the saliva. But police consider "spitting" an assault.
 At that point, Lopez grabs the young man and tries to put his head on the hood of the police car. It's not apparent from the tape what the officer is saying to Ehrhorn while he has him restrained by the neck.

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  September 17, 2003 - A Tucson attorney says a Pima County sheriff's deputy crossed the line when he used an electronic stun device to coerce his handcuffed client into providing a blood sample in a drunken-driving case.

 Attorney Michael J. Bloom wants DUI charges against his client dropped because a sheriff's deputy used a 50,000-volt electronic stun device on the neck of Brian Sewell, 35, to force him to allow blood to be drawn as evidence against him in a May 2003 case.

"The Taser is to be used for defense, not coercion," Bloom said recently.

 But Bloom says coercion was exactly what Deputy Sgt. T.C. Doubrava employed when he used his stun gun three times with five-second bursts on the neck of Sewell to make the DUI suspect submit to having blood drawn for testing.

Sewell said being shocked by the Taser was both painful and terrifying. "When he shocked me with the Taser, it felt like my brain was shaking in my head," Sewell said last week. "I felt uncontrollable pain. It was the worst pain I have ever felt in my life."

 Arizona law allows police to obtain a search warrant for drawing blood from DUI suspects when they refuse the procedure. The department obtained such a warrant for Sewell.