2 Goodyear police officers cleared in fatal hit-run probe

Goodyear officials announced Monday two police officers accused of misconduct in a fatal 2008 hit-and-run investigation will not face criminal charges and that a police vehicle involved in the incident has been cleared of causing the teen's fatal injuries.

A letter from the Arizona Attorney General's Office dated Oct. 19 said the office would not pursue criminal charges against Det. Anna Ybarra or Sgt. Deron Miller because "no reasonable basis, factually, or legally, exists to justify or support criminal charges of Obstruction of Justice, Hindering Prosecution, or any other criminal offense," according to the document obtained by The Republic.

Michael Benchoff, the senior litigation counsel who wrote the letter, also said he did not believe "any jury would find them guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, if in fact they had been charged." He based his decision on a review of a Department of Public Safety criminal investigation into the officers' conduct.

An independent investigation into the Goodyear Police Department's handling of the hit-and-run released in March concluded Miller hindered the investigation by not informing investigating officers that Goodyear Officer Bradley Hardin may have been involved. It also said Ybarra obstructed justice when she called Hardin two days later to tell him officers were coming to his house to seize his vehicle.

Goodyear officials also said Hardin's police car has been ruled out as the vehicle that caused 18-year-old Jered Pendleton's fatal injuries by a Maricopa County Sheriff's Office evidence examination.

According to an evidence comparison outlined in the MCSO examination report, bolts from the car's undercarriage were a different size than injury patterns found on Pendleton's body. The comparison also ruled out a GMC tow truck because the bolts were a different size and shape.

Bolts from a Chevrolet pickup truck also were compared and had a similar shape and size but could not be identified or excluded as a match because there wasn't enough detail in the injury pattern, the report states.
No arrests have been made in Pendleton's death and the case remains open.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/11/15/20111115goodyear-police-officers-cleared-fatal-hit-run-investigation-brk.html

Sergeant Sean Drenth Death Investigation: "Significant Evidence Someone Was at the Scene"

The Phoenix Police Department held a press conference this afternoon to discuss the findings of the soon-to-be-released report on the investigation into the death of Sergeant Sean Drenth, who was found shot to death near the State Capitol last October.

The report, as Phoenix police officials explain, offers a lot of questions, but few answers as to who shot Drenth -- and it's still unclear whether his death was a suicide or murder.

One thing, however, seems clear: Drenth wasn't the only person at the scene in the 29-minute window from when he got there to when his body was discovered by a State Capitol Police officer.

Detectives were able to track Drenth's movements for the two hours prior to when his body was discovered via-a GPS device in his squad car. According to Lieutenant Joe Knott, head of the P.P.D.'s homicide unit, Drenth was doing routine patrol in the areas between 7th Avenue to the I-17, and Buckeye Road and Jefferson Street during the two hours before his death.

About 10:26 p.m., Drenth's vehicle pulled into a parking lot near railroad tracks across from the state capitol. The spot is popular amongst cops who often park there to do paperwork. Drenth activated a computer device in his cruiser that indicates when he's stopped someone, which suggests he'd encountered someone near the parking lot.

About 30 minutes later, his body was discovered next to the open passenger door of his squad car with a shotgun wound under his chin and his shotgun resting on his chest as he lay on his back.

"The biggest question is the position of the shotgun," Knott says. He notes, it's very possible someone staged the crime scene and placed the shotgun on Drenth's dead body, so finding the gun on his chest isn't the smoking gun (pardon the pun) that he killed himself.

Adding to the mystery is that Drenth's service weapon was found on the other side of a fence on the west side of the parking lot where his body was found. Another of Drenth's weapons was found next to his body. One bullet had been fired in the direction of where the other gun was found.

If Drenth killed himself, it seems he made the scene as confusing as possible for investigators -- unless someone found his body in the 29 minutes between when he got to the parking lot and when his body was discovered and moved evidence around; a scenario police aren't ruling out.

"We have significant evidence to suggest someone was at the scene," Knott says. Finding out who that person was is the problem investigators continue to face.

Based on police interviews with friends and family, it doesn't seem as though Drenth was the kind of guy who wanted to kill himself.

"Absolutely nobody thinks Sean Drenth would have killed himself for any reason," Knott says of those close to the dead sergeant.

In his own opinion of whether Drenth was murdered or committed suicide, Knott doesn't know what to think.

"I started at 50/50 [in terms of whether it was murder or suicide]," he says. "Throughout the investigation, that's shifted in both directions...it's extremely frustrating."

Knott says we may never know exactly what happened to Drenth, but the case remains open and the department will continue to investigate.

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2011/05/sergeant_sean_drenth_death_inv.php

Eyewitness: Shooting Victim Did Not Point Gun At MCSO Deputy

MESA, Ariz. -- An eyewitness to a deadly shooting involving a Maricopa County Sheriff's deputy disputes the sheriff's account of how the shooting happened on Crescent Avenue in Mesa on Friday night.

Miguel Hernandez said he watched a deputy shoot Felipe Castellanos, his neighbor, from his front window.

"The sheriff's deputies just came up running up to him and then they told him to turn off the engine. And he just put it in park, like he was going in reverse. He put it in park . . . and then they he shot him three times," said Hernandez.

On Monday, Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Castellanos had threatened deputies with an AK-47 before he was shot two times.

Arpaio said Castellanos died from his gunshot wounds Monday morning.

"When a deputy approached, he was acting strange; swearing at our deputy, pointed a rifle at our deputy, who fired the two shots, one hitting the subject in the head," said Arpaio.

"I never saw that. I was right here and it happened right there. I, I never saw him raise his gun or anything," said Hernandez.

Deputies say they were called to Castellano's Crescent Avenue home for a domestic dispute around 10:30 p.m.

A spokesman said Castellanos fired gun shots, possible into the air and left his home.

They said Castellanos returned to his home a short time later and grabbed an AK-47 and ammunition from his home.

He encountered deputies as he was trying to back out of his driveway.

"I praise my deputy for taking proper professional action," Arpaio said. "When you have a person like this, that has all the ammunition, the gun, what was he going to do if we did not stop him?"

Arpaio said Castellanos is a convicted felon and an illegal immigrant.

Hernandez described Castellanos as a friendly neighbor.

He said Castellanos did not seem prone to violence and does not think he was trying to hurt deputies.

"They should do something else, not kill him," he said.

An MCSO spokesperson refused to identify the deputy involved in the shooting.

CBS 5 has requested records from the incident and will let you know what we find.

Phoenix police officers indicted on fraud, theft charges. All four were ordered to submit DNA in the death investigation of officer Sean Drenth

Dirty Phoenix cops: Sgt. Benjamin Sywarungsymun (from top left, clockwise), George Contreras, Officer Steven Peck and Officer Aaron Lentz

Three current and one former member of the Phoenix Police Department indicted on felony theft charges pleaded not guilty Wednesday to taking money for off-duty security work that allegedly was never performed.

The charges against former Officer George Contreras and current Officers Benjamin Swarungsymun, Steven Peck and Aaron Lentz cap a three-year state investigation into the officers' involvement in an off duty security job.

Meanwhile, KTAR Radio reports all four men were ordered by the court to submit DNA samples in the death investigation of Phoenix police Officer Sean Drenth. Contreras' attorney Cary Lackey says there's no connection between the security case and Drenth's death.

Police Chief Jack Harris says Drenth's alleged misconduct involving off-duty work would have been taken to the grand jury for consideration of charges.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/12/01/20101201phoenix-officers-theft-case-pleas.html

Rick Romley Says Police Union's Under Investigation in the Chrisman Murder Case

Phoenix Law Enforcement Association (PLEA) president Mark Spencer

by Stephen Lemons

PLEA DEAL

Can the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, the powerful union that represents Phoenix Police Department officers, successfully derail the case against Officer Richard Chrisman, the Phoenix cop indicted for second-degree murder in the October 5 shooting of an unarmed man?

That's the question I have as interim County Attorney Rick Romley leaves office on November 22, to be replaced with County Attorney-elect Bill Montgomery.

PLEA endorsed Montgomery in his victorious Republican primary challenge to Romley, and PLEA contributed $410 to his campaign coffers, though Montgomery hardly needed the help.

His official sponsor, longtime Romley enemy Sheriff Joe Arpaio, spent more than a half-million dollars on TV ads and mailers bashing Romley. That effort, or at least the cash dropped on the mailers, earned Arpaio a hefty campaign fine of $154,000.

So you could at least argue that Montgomery owes PLEA less than he owes the sheriff, though PLEA's endorsement's worth a lot more that its little donation.

Also, PLEA's reportedly tight with at least one member of Monty's newly announced executive staff. And from day one, PLEA has vigorously defended Chrisman against allegations leveled at him by fellow officer Sergio Virgillo.

Virgillo told investigators that the victim, Daniel Rodriguez, posed no threat to the officers, who were responding to a domestic-violence call placed by Rod­riguez's mother.

According to Virgillo, Chrisman, challenged by Rodriguez as to why the cops were in his mom's residence, put a gun to Rodriguez's head, telling him, "I don't need no warrant, motherfucker."

Why would a cop make this stuff up about another cop, thus instantly earning him the enmity of fellow law enforcement officers? If the confrontation went down the way Virgillo said and if he'd kept his mouth shut and backed Chrisman's tale, the whole incident probably would've been forgotten after the initial reports on it.

But PLEA's having none of Virgillo's account. The union ponied up the dough for Chrisman's bail and apparently began planting stories with friendly reporters at CBS 5 and elsewhere (according to my sources), aimed at smearing Virgillo, who's not a PLEA member.

That campaign caught the eye of Romley, who has told me that PLEA and other Phoenix police officers are now under investigation by his office and the Phoenix Police Department for possible witness tampering and obstruction of justice. In addition, Romley said an FBI agent's assigned to the matter.

"I think there's a concerted effort by PLEA and some of its members to obstruct the success of this case going forward," Romley told me. "And they need to know that I'm going to play hardball."

Sadly, Romley won't be playing hardball from the County Attorney's Office, but he's never been quiet on the sidelines, and I wouldn't expect him to clam up after November 22. By informing me of an investigation into PLEA, Romley was sending a message.

"This thing doesn't go away just because Rick Romley has to leave," he said.

I called the FBI, where spokesman Manuel Johnson said, "We're aware of the situation." He specified that the FBI knows about the County Attorney's Office and PPD probes.

Johnson would neither confirm nor deny Romley's statement that there was an FBI agent assigned to the matter. He said that in cases in which law enforcement's accused of alleged misconduct under "color of law," it's not uncommon for the FBI to wait until local investigations run their course. He said there was no active FBI investigation, but he left the door open for that to change.

(Note: PLEA President Mark Spencer hadn't returned a call for comment as this column went to press.)

Romley declined to discuss specifics of the investigation. However, I wondered to Assistant Phoenix Police Chief Andy Anderson, how PLEA had gotten internal e-mails among police officers concerning a phone call from Phoenix city councilmen Michael Nowakowski and Mike Johnson to Officer Virgillo concerning Daniel Rodriguez's death.

The e-mails are posted on PLEA's Web site. When I asked Anderson whether his department was investigating how the e-mails got there, he said he couldn't comment. I asked if the PPD was investigating PLEA, and he said that he couldn't make a statement at this time.

Nowakowski and Johnson have said they were calling only to offer support to Virgillo. The e-mails insinuate that Nowakowski and Johnson may have been trying to get Virgillo to stick to his story — which is what PLEA wants us to believe.

Granted, it's a legitimate news item for the media hounds who've reported on it. As was another item concerning Virgillo's wife, Maria, who was busted in 2008 and eventually caught three years' probation for being part of a drug-trafficking organization.

Virgillo, by all accounts, knew nothing of his wife's dealings. But as with the story regarding Nowakowski and Johnson, these twists effectively muddy the pool, no doubt part of PLEA's plan. If there's enough doubt in the mix when Montgomery ascends to the catbird seat, it could give him enough cover to act in Chrisman's favor.

Chrisman's attorney, Craig Mehrens — who wouldn't tell me whether PLEA's paying Chrisman's legal bills — contends that the grand jury was bogus from jump. He said the County Attorney's Office wouldn't allow his expert witness, police psychologist Dr. William Lewinski, to testify.

Mehrens said Lewinski interviewed Chrisman and has concluded that "this was a justifiable use of force," in the attorney's words.

"I wanted to make Dr. Lewinski available to the [county attorney] and the grand jury to tell them Rich Chrisman's version on the facts and, if they were interested, his expert opinion," Mehrens wrote in an e-mail to me.

Yet Mehrens admitted that he didn't offer his client to the grand jury to tell his side, which was the smart thing for Mehrens to do. Particularly if his client's guilty.

Romley scoffed at the suggestion that Lewinski should've gone before the grand jury.

"Mehrens knows better than that," Romley said. "His expert didn't even have any of the police reports or any of the information [on the case]."

And what about Mehrens' contention that he and Public Safety Manager (read: Police Chief) Jack Harris rushed to judgment regarding Chrisman — that the grand jury came too fast?

"That's ridiculous," Romley said. "How many murder investigations do we sit, [where] we have someone who's a potential subject and we do the grand jury right away? Just go back in history. It was a week [after the murder that the Chrisman grand jury] was done."

Romley also hotly contested the suggestion by Phoenix police Officer Eric Rude that the County Attorney dictated the probable-cause statement attached to the Chrisman indictment. Rude's testimony came before a hearing seeking a preliminary injunction against Chrisman's firing by Harris, a request the judge granted.

PLEA member Rude told the court that Chief Harris informed him that the County Attorney dictated what was to appear in the statement, referred to as a "form four." This, even though Phoenix homicide Detective Kenny Porter is listed as the author of the form four.

"I triple-checked it," Romley said. "We even contacted the officer that wrote the form four, and he said, 'Absolutely not.'"

PPD spokesman Tommy Thompson explained to me that in major cases, officers may corroborate facts with the county attorney, but the officers actually write the form fours themselves.

The latest round fired from Mehrens' office is a motion seeking a remand of the Chrisman case to the grand jury. Mehrens contends that the prosecutor assigned to the case, Juan Martinez, and another prosecutor, Ted Duffy, misled the grand jury by presenting the case "almost entirely from the point of view of Officer Sergio Virgillo."

Not long after its filing, the legal paperwork found its way to CBS 5, which then produced a hit piece on Duffy, noting that he'd been sanctioned, given a 30-day suspension, and put on probation by the State Bar of Arizona.

The Channel 5 story quoted defense attorney Daniel Raynak's saying he was surprised "anyone would put Duffy in charge of another murder case."

The TV report also noted that Duffy's "one of two prosecutors handling the Chrisman prosecution."

But the County Attorney's Office said it was Martinez who presented the case to the grand jury, not Duffy.

County Attorney's Office spokesman Bill Fitzgerald got back to me with this statement:

"Ted Duffy didn't have anything to do with the presentment of the Chrisman case. He was the person who was assigned that day to the grand jury to read from a piece of paper the standard admonishments with regard to all cases being heard by grand jurors that day.

"He reads from the piece of paper and takes a seat. The actual presentment of the case was done by Juan Martinez."

Asked about Duffy's involvement or non-involvement in the presentation of the case to the grand jury, Mehrens reacted, well, weirdly.

"You know, I am so tired of this shit," wrote Mehrens in an e-mail to me. "Why [is the County Attorney's Office] lying to you? More importantly, why are you buying into it? I actually know the answer to the former question: They cannot support their actions on the facts, so they spin."

Mehrens later added, "I know your paper supports Romley, having done a huge piece on how wonderful a guy he is. I know your paper supports and has done 'puff pieces' on the Phoenix PD homicide detectives and homicide detectives [who] have left for other employment, so why am I surprised? I shouldn't be."

So, uh, does this make New Times anti-cop or pro-cop? Confusing, eh?

Speaking for myself, I'm neither pro- nor anti-Phoenix PD. And as to Chrisman's guilt or innocence, that's for a jury to decide.

The line that's out there on the pro-Chrisman side is that Virgillo froze (or didn't engage) while Rodriguez and Chrisman struggled, that Rodriguez went for Chrisman's gun, and Chrisman had to kill him.

There were only three men involved in the incident, and one of them's dead.

The second, Virgillo, is a cop with a spotless record who's now loathed by many — if not most — of his brothers and sisters in arms for ratting out a fellow centurion.

The third, Chrisman, is tainted by his name's inclusion on the "Brady list" and the reason it was put there: planting a crack pipe on a mentally ill homeless woman in a sick prank we learned about only after he was indicted for murder two.

Chrisman's past behavior aside, I'd be willing to keep an open mind on whether the shooting was justified. That is, if Mehrens and PLEA weren't so actively sliming anyone who opposes or even questions them, and setting the stage for Montgomery to step in and put the kibosh on a possible trial.

That endgame may be good for Chrisman, Mehrens, and PLEA — which is using the affair to target its bête noire, Jack Harris. But would it be good for justice? No. Sorry, but now more than ever, we need a trial to sort out the death of Danny Rodriguez.

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2010-11-18/news/rick-romley-says-plea-s-under-investigation-for-the-witness-tampering-and-obstruction-of-justice-in-the-chrisman-affair/

Phoenix officer's fatal shooting still "confuses" detectives

More than two weeks after Phoenix police Sgt. Sean Drenth's on-duty shooting death, police have yet to release a suspect's description, a license plate on a getaway car or any other details from the scene.

If Drenth was shot to death by an unknown assailant, investigators have refused to say anything about the killer after the highly decorated patrolman was discovered fatally wounded outside his patrol vehicle in an industrial lot near the Arizona Capitol.

Drenth's shooting is still being treated as a homicide, according to Phoenix police, though the cause and manner of Drenth's Oct. 18 death is still under review by the Maricopa County Medical Examiner.

Phoenix homicide investigators have said little else other than they are forced to consider the possibility that Drenth committed suicide based on unidentified evidence collected at the scene of the shooting.

"We are still treating it as a homicide, as we always have, but there is still nothing definitive as to what happened out there," said Phoenix police Sgt. Trent Crump, the department spokesman handling the Drenth case.

"If we had that definitive evidence - one way or another, that it was a homicide or suicide - there would be no reason to withhold that information," Crump said.

By now, crime-scene technicians have already swabbed for evidence such as hair and fibers from inside Drenth's patrol vehicle and conducted a blood-spatter analysis from evidence at the scene, though it was still unclear if the South Mountain Precinct sergeant was shot inside or outside the vehicle.

Silent Witness is offering up to $10,000 in reward money for information in the case with the hope that someone will provide an anonymous tip leading to an arrest, though Phoenix police have yet to confirm Drenth was murdered.

Police said he was neither writing a report nor responding to an emergency call when he parked at the lot near the Union Pacific Railroad tracks at Jefferson Street and 19th Avenue on Oct. 18.

The vehicle is one of three crime scenes in the Drenth case, according to experts. The scene around the vehicle and the sergeant's body are the others.

Each has already been processed for latent fingerprints and ballistics at this point of the investigation, though investigators have declined comment on the results of tests conducted in the Phoenix Police Crime Lab.

Doctors at the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office said they could take up to three months to release the official death-investigation report.

Dr. Cyril Wecht, a longtime Pennsylvania medical examiner and forensic pathology expert at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, said any shooting like Drenth's should be approached initially as it were a homicide.

He said based on his limited knowledge of the case, that a major metro police agency such as Phoenix police likely have an idea at this stage of the investigation - or that they simply could be stumped based on evidence that could suggest a murder or suicide.

"Two weeks of silence makes me highly suspicious," Wecht said. "It makes me think they've got some questions, that there may be more there than they're saying at this time and that it might not be a homicide," he said.

The case largely hinges on the weapon or weapons used in Drenth's shooting. Police have declined to confirm if Drenth was shot at a distance, from close alongside his vehicle or with one of his police weapons - such as his shotgun, his duty handgun or a secondary handgun officers carry on patrol.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2010/11/05/20101105phoenix-officer-sean-drenth-shooting-mystery.html

Phoenix police officer indicted in fatal shooting

A Maricopa County grand jury has indicted a Phoenix police officer on a second-degree murder charge in the shooting of an unarmed man in south Phoenix on Oct. 5.

Officer Richard Chrisman was also charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and cruelty to animals.

Interim Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley and Phoenix Public Safety Manager Jack Harris announced the indictment at a news conference Thursday.

"I sincerely believe in these good men and women, and I believe that their example epitomizes all that is good about public safety in our communities today," Romley said. "But we as citizens put our trust and our lives in their hands, and when one abuses and violates that trust, we must hold them accountable to the community for that breach."

When asked why it took more than a week to obtain the murder charges, Harris said, "We make decisions based on the facts of the investigation, not rumors, not people being upset. We base them on facts."

Harris said he understood outrage in the community over the shooting of Frank Rodriguez, 29.

"I think the community should be angry," Harris said. "They should be upset. If it were my neighbor, I would be angry as well."

Later in the day, Elvira Fernandez, Rodriguez's mother, said at a separate news conference at her lawyer's office that when she heard about the new charges against Chrisman, "I thought, finally, thank God somebody heard us."

Fernandez said her son "didn't even know I called 911. I was emotional. I thought the police would have a talk with him. I told them, 'Don't hurt my son, just talk to him.' "

She said she heard "banging on the door when they broke it down and I heard my son screaming."

Harris said that he would meet with Chrisman next week to initiate termination procedures against the officer.

Harris and Romley also released information about Chrisman that placed him on the "Brady" list, named for a court case regarding police officers who had committed acts that called their judgment into question.

In 2005, Chrisman was one of four police officers caught on surveillance video planting a drug pipe on a mentally challenged homeless woman as a joke. In the video, Chrisman can be seen placing something in the hand of a police officer who then pretends to take it out of the woman's dress. The woman was not charged with drug offenses.

Chrisman was disciplined and suspended for one day. His name remained on the Brady list.

Craig Mehrens, Chrisman's attorney, said the videotaped incident "has nothing to do with (Chrisman's) use of force. Rick is selectively releasing things to bolster his case."

Shortly after noon on Oct. 5, Chrisman, 36, and Officer Sergio Virgillo went to the south Phoenix trailer home of Rodriguez's mother. Fernandez had called 911 because she had been arguing with Rodriguez and she was afraid he would assault her.

Rodriguez asked to see a warrant when the officers entered the home, and Chrisman reportedly put his gun to Rodriguez's head and told him he didn't need a warrant, according to court documents. The documents went on to say that both officers fired their stun guns against Rodriguez. Then Chrisman sprayed him with pepper spray and shot a young dog barking in the living room.

Virgillo told investigators the dog was not threatening them and he saw no reason why Chrisman would shoot it. The suspect asked why Chrisman had shot his dog, and Virgillo said he tried to calm Rodriguez down and talk him into coming outside.

Rodriguez told the officers he was leaving with his bicycle, but Virgillo moved to block the door and Chrisman began struggling with Rodriguez over the handlebars.

Chrisman then reportedly pulled out his handgun and shot Rodriguez more than once. Rodriguez died at the scene.

Chrisman was arrested about five hours after the shooting and was freed on bail. He was not rearrested after the indictment.

Mehrens, who successfully defended a Chandler police officer who shot a woman to death at a pharmacy drive-up window in 2002, claims that the Rodriguez shooting was justified.

Mehrens sent a letter to Deputy County Attorney Juan Martinez, who will handle the Chrisman case, asking him to consider the opinion of an expert on police officer use of force.

"Nobody called for my expert's opinion," Mehrens told The Arizona Republic. "You mean the prosecutor is not supposed to look at both sides? I'd have a great case with a fair prosecutor."

Attorneys for Rodriguez's parents attended Thursday morning's news conference. Michael Manning, who represents Rodriguez's father, said he and the father were pleased by Chrisman's indictment, calling the inquiry into the shooting "a brave and courageous investigation."

Hispanic community activist Lydia Guzman said, "I'm pleased to see that the police department has been transparent in every stage of the investigation. I appreciate the police officer who came forward and I worry about any retaliation he may suffer."

http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2010/10/14/20101014phoenix-police-officer-shooting-arrest-prosecutor14-ON.html