Homicide Victim Identified

On December 6, 2013 at about 12:30 am, Mesa police officers responded to the Sun Garden apartments, located at 860 E. Brown in Mesa, reference a body found in a dumpster. Homicide detectives responded to the scene and began their investigation into this obviously suspicious death. We have since identified the victim as 14-year-old, Claudia Ann Lucero, whom had last been seen the previous morning at approximately 6:30 am at her residence in Mesa. We have no additional details to release at this time.
 
This is a tragedy with profound effect on family, friends and our community as a whole. Though no arrests have been made as of this release, our investigators our vigorously pursuing all leads in the investigation. We are asking for anyone with information that may assist us in our investigation to immediately contact the Mesa Police Department at 480-644-2211, option 2, or Silent Witness at 480- WITNESS.

Arrest Warrants Issued for Three Suspects in Halloween Homicide

Three suspects have now been indicted on murder charges related to the death of Brian Lee Weathers, 36. Weathers was found in the 300 East block of Harmony with an apparent gunshot wound at approximately 11:44 pm on Halloween night. He was transported to the hospital where he died from his injuries. Initially, detectives had very little information on the crime. Eventually a witness came forward and provided information leading to the identity of the suspects.

All three men were arrested on unrelated charges in Cheatham County, Tennessee. When two of the suspects were contacted in Tennessee, they were driving a vehicle in which evidence linking them to the homicide in Arizona was found. The suspects are Zackary Burgess, age 22; Brandon Simon, age 18; and Joseph Holt, age 22. All three are listed as Tennessee residents.

On December 4, 2013, Mesa detectives were able to secure indictments on all three men. They are each charged with one count of First Degree Murder, one count of Kidnapping and one count of Armed Robbery. All three are held on a 1 million dollar bond each and are awaiting extradition to Arizona.

Fraud - "Quick Change"

During the month of November, the below pictured suspects entered multiple businesses in Mesa, Chandler and Phoenix in an attempt to defraud the businesses. The suspect hands the employee a $100 bill and asks for change. After receiving the change, the suspect attempts to confuse the employee by requesting different denominations, eventually demanding the original $100 bill back. Some employees have given the $100 bill back with the additional change, resulting in a monetary loss to the business. It is unknown at this time if there are additional suspects involved.

We are also seeking information on unreported "quick change" crimes that match these suspects.

Please submit any information regarding the crime or identity of the suspect(s) through the “Submit a Tip” option at www.CrimeReports.com or text information to 274-637 (CRIMES). Begin your message with MESAPD. You can also call 480-644-2211 and select option 2. Refer to report number 20133240728.

Crime Stats - November 2013

The following are the top 5 calls for service and arrests for each patrol district -- 11/01/2013 through 11/30/2013.

FIESTA		CENTRAL
Call Type	Frequency	Call Type	Frequency
Subjects Disturbing	413	Subjects Disturbing	415
Check Welfare	363	Check Welfare	302
Loud Music/Noise	232	Loud Music/Noise	231
Other Agency Assist	190	Other Agency Assist	193
Suspicious Activity	160	Suspicious Activity	165
Arrests	Frequency	Arrests	Frequency
Robbery	5	Robbery	3
Aggravated Assault	7	Aggravated Assault	9
Breaking & Entering	7	Breaking & Entering	9
Theft	64	Theft	58
Alcohol/DUI	57	GTA	2
Other Assaults	34	Alcohol/DUI	58
Disorderly Conduct	19	Other Assaults	55
Drugs	68	Disorderly Conduct	34
Fiscal/Forgery	7	Drugs	54
Loitering/Runaway	4	Fiscal/Forgery	11
Sex Offenses	2	Loitering/Runaway	7
Vandalism	19	Sex Offenses	3
All Other	147	Vandalism	27
		All Other	232
TOTAL	440	TOTAL	562

RED MOUNTAIN		SUPERSTITION
Call Type	Frequency	Call Type	Frequency
Check Welfare	373	Check Welfare	307
Subjects Disturbing	360	Subjects Disturbing	246
Loud Music/Noise	280	Other Agency Assist	195
Suspicious Activity	235	Suspicious Activity	185
Burglary Alarm	195	Burglary Alarm	183
Arrests	Frequency	Arrests	Frequency
Rape	2	Rape	1
Robbery	2	Robbery	2
Aggravated Assault	9	Aggravated Assault	5
Breaking & Entering	5	Breaking & Entering	2
Theft	92	Theft	118
GTA	1	Alcohol/DUI	43
Alcohol/DUI	49	Other Assaults	23
Other Assaults	43	Disorderly Conduct	13
Disorderly Conduct	26	Drugs	32
Drugs	91	Fiscal/Forgery	5
Fiscal/Forgery	20	Loitering/Runaway	8
Loitering/Runaway	2	Vandalism	12
Sex Offenses	3	All Other	55
Vandalism	18
All Other	1
TOTAL	508	TOTAL	319

Tire Slashing Arrest

Shortly before 4:30 am this morning, Mesa officers responded to a call for subjects letting air out of car tires at 1360 W. Isabella in Mesa, the Garden Place Apartments. Officers arrived in less than a minute and located two subjects matching the description. Seeing the police, the subjects separated and ran from officers. Minutes later the subjects were located and detained.

One of the subjects had a cut on his hand and eventually a bloody knife, believed to be used to slash the tires, was located along the path our suspects ran. The subjects were questioned and eventually transported to the main station for interviews with our investigators. Suspect Nicholas James Rourke (22 years old), confessed to slashing the tires to numerous vehicles within the apartment complex parking lot. He was intoxicated and stated he did it because he was upset over losing some money. Rourke stated that he cut his hand on the knife, which he later discarded, while puncturing car tires. As of this release, we have located a total of seventeen vehicles, including one motorcycle, with punctured tires. Rourke was booked on seventeen counts of Criminal Damage.

The other subject, a 30-year-old white male, was released pending further investigation. The Fiesta Patrol District has experienced two previous tire slashing incidents and, while we continue to evaluate all three cases, we have not tied this suspect to the other incidents.

Five Minutes with the Chief 2013-4

More Tires Slashed - Mesa PD Needs Your Help

Thanksgiving Holiday Spoiler....

Last night, November 27, 2013 at approximately 11:00pm, Mesa Officers responded to 625 W. Posada in reference to a criminal damage call where a vehicle’s tires had been slashed.  This is the same area where several vehicle tires were slashed on November 11, 2013.

 

Officers flooded the entire area and in the course of their investigation were able to locate a total of 20 vehicles with tires that were slashed or cut.  Three of the victims had more than one vehicle damaged.  Some of the vehicles were also damaged in the previous incidents on 11/11/2013.   We believe the suspects probably live in this area and are hoping that someone may have noticed them walking in the area last night. 

 

We have not been able to develop any other suspect information at this time.  Officers saturated that area for about 3 hours last night and were not able to locate anything or anyone of value to this crime series.  If anyone has any information in this case, they are encouraged to contact the Mesa Police Department at 480-644-2211 or Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS.

Operation Fade to Black Friday a Success

On November 22 and 23, the Mesa Police Department partnered with our local retailers to address holiday shoplifting. “Operation Fade to Black Friday” was a combined effort by the Mesa Police Department and local retailers to reduce shoplift crimes this holiday season. This type of theft negatively impacts retailers as they attempt to keep affordable merchandise on the shelves for their customers. The Superstition Patrol District of the Mesa Police Department identified that over the previous two years, the month of December has seen an approximate 25% increase in shoplifts when compared to other months in the year.

In an effort to reduce this crime trend, the Mesa Police Department assigned ten detectives to the operation with a goal of identifying repeat offenders and retail theft rings. The Maricopa County and the City of Mesa prosecutor's offices are closely working together with the police department in the prosecution of the arrested subjects. We partnered with several local retailers to include CVS Pharmacy, Target, Wal-Mart, Kmart and Home Depot among others. Michael DeAngelis, Public Relations Director from CVS Pharmacy, provided the following statement:

“Shoplifting is an industry wide issue that affects all retailers. CVS/Pharmacy is committed to cooperating with law enforcement and other retailers to prevent shoplifting in our stores and to apprehend suspects. We appreciate the efforts of the Mesa Police Department to curb shoplifting incidents during the busy holiday season. Our efforts to prevent shoplifting are designed to help keep products available and affordable for customers to purchase.”

Mesa Police and our partners believe Operation Fade to Black was a success. This holiday season, the partnership plans to conduct similar operations in Mesa and other locations in the Valley. To our shoppers, know that we are out there watching over you. To those who would seek to victimize our shoppers or retailers, the Mesa Police Department is serving handcuffs, jail cells and cold sandwiches this holiday season.

The past weekend's operation resulted in a total of sixteen arrests. Of these subjects

• three had a past history of shoplifting;
• three had active warrants for their arrest;
• three were in possession of drugs;
• one individual was released from Arizona Department of Corrections five days before their arrest;
• $1,863.00 worth of merchandise was recovered or thwarted from being stolen from retailers;
• $696.00 was the largest shoplift apprehension;
• three new investigations were begun due the operation.

24 Hour Exceptional Incident Report

DUI & Warrant Arrest
On November 25 at 6:54 am, an officer attempted a traffic stop on a maroon Ford Expedition in the 2500 block of East Southern, after seeing the vehicle stop in the center lane of Southern and pick up a pedestrian. The officer ran the plate on the vehicle and found that the registered owner had active warrants. The officer turned on his emergency lights and activated his siren; the vehicle began to drive west bound on Southern ignoring the officer's attempt to stop it. The officer deactivated lights/siren, but continued to follow the vehicle; the vehicle eventually pulled over. The driver was detained for the warrants and was then investigated for DUI DRE with the strong smell of marijuana coming from the vehicle. The driver admitted to smoking marijuana earlier that morning and was later arrested for DRE and for the confirmed warrants.

Theft on September 23, 2013

On September 23, 2013 at 2:00 pm, the suspect entered the Sprint store at 1639 S Stapley Drive, looked around, took some items that were on display and ran from the store. He was seen getting into a Silverado style vehicle that was waiting down the street. A second theft occurred at a nearby T-Mobile store approximately 1 week later and the suspect was seen getting into a van nearby. The suspect is described as a Hispanic or Native American male, 5'10" to 5'11" tall, 200 lbs.  Last seen wearing a red baseball cap, white T-shirt and black basketball shorts.

Please submit any information regarding the crime or identity of the suspect(s) through the “Submit a Tip” option at www.CrimeReports.com or text information to 274-637 (CRIMES). Begin your message with MESAPD. You can also call 480-644-2211 and select option 2. Refer to report number 20132630440.