201912

Improved Upon Third Place Ranking in Previous Year

PHOENIX - Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced Lynwood Jennet pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Fraudulent Schemes and Artifices, Two Counts of Theft, and Failure to File a Tax Return. With two pending cases filed against her by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office in Maricopa County Superior Court, Jennet took steps to resolve both today by entering a plea agreement.

TUCSON – Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced a State Grand Jury indicted 11 individuals accused of shipping illegal drugs and contraband across the country through the United Parcel Service (UPS).

TUCSON - Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced Gustavo Chavez was recently arraigned for his alleged involvement in the theft of donations from the Toys for Tots Foundation. Chavez and his co-conspirators, Lloyd Jorgenson, Paul Lambert, and Melinda Stewart, of Sierra Vista, were indicted this past summer on several charges including: Burglary, Theft, Trafficking in Stolen Property, Conspiracy, and Illegally Conducting an Enterprise.

GLENDALE - Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced 22-year-old Israel Carrasco and his older brother 24-year-old Enrique Luna pleaded guilty in the 2016 murder of 21-year-old Christopher Gonzales Cummings inside his Glendale apartment.

In January 2016, Luna, Carrasco, and a third suspect, who is still at large, went to Cummings' apartment to rob him. Luna and Carrasco entered into Cummings' bedroom while the third suspect held two adults and their baby at gun point. Moments later, a gunshot was heard, killing Cummings.

PHOENIX - Attorney General Brnovich joined a bipartisan coalition of 27 attorneys general in an amicus brief before the full U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to defend the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) in Brackeen v. Bernhardt. In the brief, the coalition urges the appellate court to uphold ICWA and affirm the decision of a three-judge appellate panel.

PHOENIX – Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced 30-year-old Robert Hood will spend 108 years in prison for forcing a 16-year-old girl to engage in prostitution for six months.

A jury found Hood guilty on 11 felony counts, including Child Sex Trafficking, Conspiracy, Money Laundering, and Sexual Exploitation of a Minor.  On December 7th, Hood was sentenced to 108 years in prison. Hood had two prior convictions of aggravated assault and possession of drugs.

TUCSON – Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced 40-year-old Jesus Gabriel Rodriguez-Valenzuela was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he was convicted of selling $7,800 of methamphetamine in the parking lots of Tucson area shopping malls. With a jury trial pending, Rodriguez-Valenzuela pleaded guilty to all eight charges against him, which included three counts each of Transportation of a Dangerous Drug for Sale and Money Laundering, and one count each of Conspiracy and Illegally Conducting an Enterprise.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Arizona Attorney General’s Office argued to uphold the death penalty sentence for James McKinney before the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday morning. In 1991, McKinney and his half-brother murdered Christine Mertens and Jim McClain in their Chandler homes during two separate robberies.

PHOENIX - Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced today that his office obtained a $600,000 consent judgment against a Sun City vacuum sales business and its owners. Last year, the Attorney General filed a lawsuit alleging that Sun City-based Island Don, Inc., which does business as Bright & Shiny Kirby Company, Bright & Shiny Cleaning Services, or Sun West Kirby (“Bright & Shiny”), made thousands of calls in violation of the National “Do Not Call” R