Top public safety stories in 2007 include 145 animals
- December
- 28
8:44 pm Nation Live
March: A 36-year-old Avondale woman and her 5-year-old twins died when their Jeep Cherokee drove into a canal near 107th Avenue and Thomas Road in Avondale. Hallannah Marie Harris suffered from a seizure disorder, according to police and medical examiner’s report. Police were unable to determine the cause of the crash or whether Harris’ condition contributed to it.
April: Estrella Mountain Community College shut down for a day after receiving a three-page typed letter threatening a shooting at the Avondale campus. The threat came a day after a mass shooting at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., that claimed 33 lives. Campuses in nine states reported suspicious activity or threats that forced lockdowns or evacuations.
June: Nearly 4,000 homes went black June 18, leaving residents in and around Goodyear’s Estrella community without power for 19 hours. Police think vandals toppled a wooden power pole in the area, which caused the outage.
July: Nineteen people, including more than a dozen linked to a Tolleson gang, were arrested in connection with 34 home invasions. The suspects allegedly impersonated law enforcement officers to rob homes of drugs, money and other items.
September: The bodies of Santana Armijo 21, and Michael Martinez, 28, were found naked near Interstate 10 and Verrado Way, stunning residents of Buckeye’s Verrado development. Martinez was reportedly strangled. Authorities are investigating the deaths as a double homicide.
October: Joshua Joel Jacobsen, 32, a former Liberty Elementary School District teacher and youth soccer coach, was sentenced to nine months in jail and lifetime probation after he pleaded guilty to sexual abuse and luring a minor for sexual exploitation. His victim, a girl, was 13 when the abuse started in 2004.
October: The daughter of Luke Air Force Base pilot Brian Yeargan died when she fell almost 400 feet from the rim of the Grand Canyon. Natalie Yeargan, 4, was visiting the canyon with her family when she walked too close to the edge and fell. The Yeargans had settled in the Litchfield Park area.
October: A 25-year-old African-American mother returned home to find her house burglarized with racial slurs and epithets written on the interior walls, the second hate crime against a Black family near Litchfield Park in less than a year.
November: Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station security personnel found a pipe bomb in the back of a contract worker’s truck as he entered the plant for work. Roger Hurd, who was renting a place in Goodyear, returned to work the following week and said he did not know where the bomb came from.
November: Nearly $10,000 was taken from the Avondale Moose Lodge, in Goodyear, in two unsolved burglaries, one less then a week before Thanksgiving. The group had raised the money to support needy families.
December: The Avondale Police Department extended its photo speed enforcement program through at least April. The City Council first approved a six-month trial in February.
December: Former Buckeye Town Manager Dave Wilcox pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and paid a $477 fine in a plea deal stemming from a sexual indecency citation. Wilcox, 60, was cited Nov. 1 on suspicion of public sexual indecency after he was caught in a sex act with a man at a Phoenix adult shop.
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