201607

PHOENIX - Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced his office recently obtained a $110,000 judgment against Burudi Mwonyoni and his company, Publishers Service Office, Inc.  The default judgment is the result of an Arizona Consumer Fraud Lawsuit alleging Publishers Service Office used a magazine subscription scam to defraud consumers throughout the United States. Publishers Service Office placed 48,000 telephone calls a month, using an auto-dialer, to sell consumers new or renewed magazine subscriptions.

PHOENIX – Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced today a major development in the Anti-Money Laundering (“AML”) agreement between Western Union Financial Services, Inc. and the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. An independent court monitor found Western Union successfully implemented all of the primary recommendations required in the settlement agreement amendment dated January 31, 2014.

PHOENIX - A former registered nurse is sentenced this morning to four years in prison after selling MDMA or Methylenedioxymethamphetamine also known as “ecstasy” or “molly” announced Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich. Judge Warren J. Granville sentenced 41-year-old Brent Forrest after he pled guilty to Sale or Transportation of Dangerous Drugs and Facilitation of Sale or Transportation Dangerous Drugs.

PHOENIX – Attorney General Mark Brnovich and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Phoenix Division announced a State Grand Jury indicted Dr. Harinder Kumar Takyar on 42 felony counts. The indictment alleges Dr. Takyar prescribed controlled substances with no medical necessity and provided compensation for the referral of patients to his medical offices in Mesa, Florence, and Coolidge, Arizona.

PHOENIX – Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced a State Grand Jury issued an indictment against Jayme Valenzuela, Mayor of the Town of Superior, charging him with one count of Theft, a class 5 felony. The Superior Town Council hired an auditor who determined that Mayor Valenzuela used the town’s debit card on eight separate occasions to obtain a total of $2,300 in cash between August 2013 and December 2014. Two of the withdrawals were at the Wild Horse Pass Casino, and the other six withdrawals occurred at various bank machines in Maricopa and Pinal Counties.

PHOENIX – Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced a State Grand Jury indicted Mahin Khan, 18, of Tucson, charging him with Terrorism, Conspiracy to Commit Terrorism, and Conspiracy to Commit Misconduct Involving Weapons. The indictment is the result of an investigation by the Phoenix Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Joint Terrorism Task Force, including agents from the Arizona Attorney General’s Office Special Investigations Section.

COCHISE COUNTY - Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced a Cochise County Grand Jury indicted former Douglas Police Department Sergeant Theodore Kulkens for Theft.

Kulkens, the former property and evidence section sergeant, is accused of stealing nearly $15,000 in cash that had been lawfully placed into the Douglas Police Department’s property and evidence section.