Arizona Republic:  “A federal grand jury has unsealed a 40-count indictment against five men, including four in Arizona, over an alleged $160 million Ponzi scheme that promised sky-high investment returns and relied on word-of-mouth referrals, especially among the Valley’s Mormon community.   The indictment charges Guy Andrew Williams, 38, of Mesa; Brent F. Williams, 62, of Mesa; Douglas Edward Towler, 46, of Scottsdale; and Duane Hamblin Slade, 38, of Texas, with mail fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and money laundering.  It charges Russell Laurence Sewell, 43, of Mesa, with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.”

Arizona Republic:  “Gilbert police were ‘grossly negligent’ and failed to give assistance to a Phoenix man, who died after being pinned beneath an SUV police were chasing, according to the 21-year-old’s mother.  Marlo Gonzales, of Phoenix, placed blame of her son Anthony’s death squarely on three police officers who chased the Jeep Cherokee carrying Anthony, Domincio Soldano, Rafael Chacon and Robert Gonzales, all of whom were fleeing a home they allegedly robbed.”

Arizona Republic:  “A woman who claimed she was sexually harassed and abused by a Phoenix police officer saw one of her family’s several lawsuits come to a close earlier this week when a Maricopa County Superior Court jury awarded her $600,000 in damages.  Donna Tavilla made her initial sexual-harassment complaint against the officer in 2002 after she felt his “harassing and terrorizing sexual advances” caused her emotional distress and threatened to hurt her family’s contract with the city to buy and swap used vehicles for police use.”

ABA Journal:  “Following yesterday’s announcement of felony charges against the presiding criminal court judge [Gary Donahoe] in Maricopa County, some lawyers in Arizona are questioning the ethics of a county attorney involved in bringing the charges and even calling for outside intervention.  Such prosecutions of a judge over his rulings on assigned cases are virtually unprecedented, observers tell the Arizona Republic.  “This is, in my opinion, an abuse of process,’ says attorney James Belanger of Phoenix, who represents lawyers in ethical matters before the State Bar of Arizona.

See “Andrew Thomas files criminal charges against judge”  and “Judge Criminally Charged re Court Rulings in Battle for Control of Ariz. County.”  See also the criminal complaint filed by the Maricopa County Attorney.  It’s pretty bizarre and very poorly drafted.