Burglary Arrest

 Marc Esparza

On November 27 at 1:53am, an officer responded to the Name Brand Exchange Store, at 1116 S Dobson, for a burglary alarm. The officer observed broken glass from a display case inside the business. Believing the burglary was occurring, he requested additional officers, who observed a broken window where entry was made. The sergeant located a cell phone near the broken window. The phone number was identified and subsequently the phone owner, was identified as Marc Esparza. A description of Esparza was put out to officers.

At 2:24am, while officers were searching inside the store, two officers watching the front of the store observed a male walking on the opposite side of Dobson Road that matched Esparza's description. Upon contact, Esparza admitted he had broken into the store and taken "ear gauges." He said the stolen property was at his mother's residence and gave consent to officers to retrieve the stolen property. His mother gave consent to officers to check for additional stolen property. Approximately $5,458 in stolen jewelry, ear gauges, belts, perfumes and sunglasses was recovered.

Esparza was booked for one count of Burglary 2nd Degree.

Aggravated Assault Arrest Made

Photo of Jose Gonzales

On November 7 at 12:12am, a subject, later identified as Jose Gonzales, was asked to leave the Starlight motel by the management, as he was occupying a room in the name of another person. He packed up his belongings as if to leave, then pulled a gun from his backpack and assaulted the victim. He then fired three times toward the hotel rooms. One bullet went into another room and struck a person. Gonzales then ran from the motel on foot. He was later identified through a photo line up. Gonzales had several outstanding warrants, including
a U.S. Marshal's warrant.

Gonzales was later arrested for his outstanding warrants and made a full confession to Mesa detectives. He was booked on six felony charges to include two counts of aggravated assault, one count misconduct involving weapons, one count endangerment and one count disorderly conduct.

Theft of Credit Card - Attempt to Identify

On August 26 at 11:16am, the male, pictured below, used a cloned credit card with the victim's debit card number to make three purchases at Safeway, 1960 W. Main Street. The victim was still in possession of his card and does not know how the card number was compromised.

Suspect male is described as a Hispanic male, wearing blue jeans and a gray and white striped T-shirt.

Please submit any information regarding the crime or identity of the suspect through one of the following. You can remain anonymous. 

• Use our online form found here. Please fill in the case number in the Case Number field under Incident Information. CASE NUMBER 20162390572, or 
• Text information to 274-637 (CRIMES). Begin your message with MESAPD, or  
• Call our non-emergency number at 480-644-2211 and select option 2 at the menu.

Burglary Suspect Arrested

On November 6, 2016, at 3:18 a.m., Mesa Police Officers arrested James Gurr for Burglary. Officers responded to a dentist office in the area of 1500 block East of University for the report of a burglary alarm. Upon arrival officers discovered the rear glass door of the business shattered and observed a white male inside the business trying to hide. Gurr fled the business to evade capture. While attempting to evade Gurr was confronted by officers by a wall that surrounded the business. Gurr was taken into custody and later admitted throwing a rock through the front door to steal items intending to sell them later.

Kidnapping Suspect Arrested

Julio Fernandez-Salazar

On 11-12-16 Mesa Police responded to the area of 2060 N. Center in Mesa, AZ for a possible kidnapping call. A male victim called 911 saying he was being held against his will and he described being in a trailer home along with the surroundings he could see. He described his kidnapper as an adult male named Julio. A reverse 911 hit placed the call in the area of 2060 N Center. 

Based on information provided by the victim, Detectives were able to identify an investigative lead within the complex. Detectives responded and observed that the surroundings matched the description given by the victim over the phone. Detectives knocked and made contact with the occupants of the home and all of them complied to verbal commands to step outside. Julio’s family members were interviewed and stated the victim arrived two days ago and was staying in the back bedroom. They claimed they did not know why the victim was staying with them. 

The victim was interviewed and stated he was forced to smuggle drugs across the border by other unknown armed men. He said once he arrived in Tucson he was picked up by Julio and taken to Phoenix. He stated Julio threatened him and stated he needed to pay a ransom to be released.
Julio was interviewed and stated he received a phone call two days ago and was offered money to keep the victim in his home. Julio stated he knew the victim was being held against his will and would not be able to leave until the ransom was paid. Julio stated someone was supposed to pick up the victim from his home and he disclosed having a .22 cal rifle at home. The rifle was found in the residence once a search warrant was served. Julio stated he knew what he was doing was wrong and said he never harmed the victim. 

Julio Fernandez-Salazar DOB:10-28-1981 has been booked into jail and is charged with one count of kidnapping and one count of misconduct involving weapons/prohibited possessor, both felony charges.  

Residential Theft

On November 9 at 11:45 am, two suspects removed two packages from the victim's front porch in the 3100 block of East Enid Avenue. Inside the packages were dresses and six Miss America crowns used for pageants. The crowns are stamped with "Official MAO" and are composed of Swarovski crystals. The crowns are identical to the one shown here.

Suspect #1 - Hispanic female, 20s, 5'4" to 5'7" tall, thin build, long black hair, white shirt, shorts.

Suspect #2 - Hispanic male, wearing a baseball cap, unknown age, height or weight.

Vehicle used is an older model dark green van, unknown plate, possibly a Ford Aerostar.

Please submit any information regarding the crime or identity of the suspect through one of the following. You can remain anonymous. 

• Use our online form found here. Please fill in the case number in the Case Number field under Incident Information. CASE NUMBER 20163140527, or 
• Text information to 274-637 (CRIMES). Begin your message with MESAPD, or  
• Call our non-emergency number at 480-644-2211 and select option 2 at the menu.

Crime Stats - October

The following are the top 5 calls for service and arrests for each patrol district -- 10/01/2016 through 10/31/2016.  To see which district you are in, click on each individual district listed at left to see their map.   FIESTA CENTRAL Call Type Frequency Call Type Frequency Check Welfare 456 Subjects Disturbing 412 Subjects Disturbing 393 Check Welfare 401 Other Agency Assist 222 Trespass 234 Loud Music/Noise 206 Other Agency Assist 205 Trespass 203 Warrant Arrest 157 Arrests Frequency Arrests Frequency Homicide 0 Homicide 0 Rape 0 Rape 2 Robbery 7 Robbery 3 Aggravated Assault 14 Aggravated Assault 12 Breaking & Entering 5 Breaking & Entering 9 Theft 57 Theft 72 GTA 2 GTA 1 Alcohol/DUI 55 Alcohol/DUI 46 Other Assaults 63 Other Assaults 31 Disorderly Conduct 29 Disorderly Conduct 33 Drugs 63 Drugs 86 Fiscal/Forgery 10 Fiscal/Forgery 14 Loitering/Runaway 6 Loitering/Runaway 1 Sex Offenses 2 Sex Offenses 2 Vandalism 21 Vandalism 20 All Other 186 All Other 252  TOTAL 520 TOTAL 584 RED MOUNTAIN SUPERSTITION Call Type Frequency Call Type Frequency Check Welfare 383 Check Welfare 380 Subjects Disturbing 345 Subjects Disturbing 257 Other Agency Assist 229 Burglary Alarm 229 Burglary Alarm 204 Other Agency Assist 213 Suspicious Activity 181 Suspicious Activity 158 Arrests Frequency Arrests Frequency Homicide 0 Homicide 0 Rape 1 Rape 0 Robbery 0 Robbery 4 Aggravated Assault 3 Aggravated Assault 4 Breaking & Entering 2 Breaking & Entering 5 Theft 38 Theft 66 GTA 3 GTA 1 Alcohol/DUI 55 Alcohol/DUI 40 Other Assaults 33 Other Assaults 24 Disorderly Conduct 12 Disorderly Conduct 11 Drugs 47 Drugs 31 Fiscal/Forgery 7 Fiscal/Forgery 11 Loitering/Runaway 3 Loitering/Runaway 7 Sex Offenses 0 Sex Offenses 0 Vandalism 16 Vandalism 19 All Other 132 All Other 89 TOTAL 352 TOTAL 312