Former beauty queen pleads guilty to soliciting kidnapping of "boyfriend," sentenced to 2 years in prison, 6 years probation

(Original Post 12-10-09)

A former beauty queen has plead guilty to conspiracy to commit kidnapping and aggravated assault Tuesday, December 8. Twenty-seven year old Kumari Fulbright's guilty plea was heard and accepted by Pima County Superior Court Judge Richard Nichols, who will formally sentence her to two years in prison for aggravated assault and seven years probation for kidnapping.

Fulbright and three other defendants, Larry Hammond, Robert Ergonis, and David Wayne Radde planned and carried out the attack, according to law enforcement. The motive for the attack, according to prosecutors, was Fulbright's anger at her jewelry being pawned off to settle a $16,000 drug debt.

Defense attorney Steve Weiss told Judge Richard Nichols that Fulbright conspired with others to restrain her former boyfriend in December 2007 and brandished a knife near his ear, threatening to cut it. Although she signed a plea agreement, Fulbright was reluctant to verbally acknowledge her actions and accept the terms in court, as required, saying she did not agree with her attorney's description of the crime.

Each time Nichols asked Fulbright if she committed a particular act, she refused to answer directly. Instead answering yes or no, Fulbright told the judge such things as "I agree I'm pleading guilty" or "I am guilty" or "The evidence shows that."

At one point, Fulbright also snapped that she reads, writes and understands English and she signed the plea agreement. Eventually, Fulbright said, "OK, yes" when asked if she conspired to have the man restrained, she brandished the knife and she threatened him with it.

Fulbright was a law clerk for a federal court and a law student at the University of Arizona. She won the Miss Pima County pageant in 2005 and the Miss Desert Sun pageant in 2006. Hammond plead guilty to aggravated assault, and faces a sentence of as much as 8 3/4 years in prison. Radde also plead guilty to kidnapping conspiracy charges and faces 3 to 12 1/2 years in this case as well as another 3 to 12 1/2 years for unrelated drugs and weapons charges. All sentences will be handed down after the trial of Ergonis.

(Update 12-13-10) The former law clerk was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment and 6 years probation for her role in the kidnapping of her "boyfriend." Pima County Superior Court Judge Michael Miller handed down the sentence after Fulbright pled guilty to conspiracy to commit kidnapping and aggravated assault in a Tuscon, AZ courtroom Thursday, December 9.

Defense attorney Steve Sherick asked for 18 months of probation. Prosecutor Michael Jette didn’t specify how long he thought she should be placed on probation, but told Miller she didn’t live up to the terms of her plea agreement and almost had it revoked.Jette told Miller Fulbright has done “anything and everything” to protect Ergonis, thus violating her promise to tell the truth on the stand. She also told Radde what he should testify, Jette said.

[The victim]’s desire to move on with his life is the only reason Fulbright was extended a plea agreement in the first place and it’s the only reason it hasn’t been revoked, Jette said. Fulbright still hasn’t accepted responsibility for her actions or shown remorse, Jette said.

Sherick told Miller his client’s testimony was truthful and consistent with police statements and defense interviews she’s given. The defense attorney cited Fulbright’s remorse and behavior while on pretrial release and while in jail as reasons for a short term of probation.

Besides the prison sentence, Fulbright was also ordered to pay $15,000 restitution to her victim. Ergonis will be sentenced later this week.

(Update 1-12-11) Ergonis was sentenced to 22 1/2 years imprisonment on December 16, 2010. He was convicted in November 2010 by a Pima County jury of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, kidnapping, armed robbery and aggravated robbery. It was revealed that Fulbright had been "dating" Ergonis for months, writing him while he was on tril to tell him that the prosecution had no case and that she did not want to testify against him.

20 year old man arrested in live rape of "girlfriend" pleads guilty in Phoenix court

(Original Post 6-3-09)
A 20 year old Phoenix man was charged with 2 counts of sexual assault, a count of kidnapping, and a count of taking a surreptitious photo. John Hock, 20, had allegedly assaulted the victim, who he knew for a couple of months, on February 26, with the victim alerting police in early March.

Hock set up a computer with a webcam and sexually assaulted a woman he knew as she was passed out from drinking alcohol, according to a Phoenix police probable cause statement released on Monday.

As he did this, he signed onto a Web account and broadcasted the sexual assault live on the Internet, the statement said. The video was then posted to a Web site where it was repeatedly played until the site pulled it off, police said.

Police said Hock raped the woman in her own bedroom after she had been asleep for four to five hours.

She learned about the video after receiving text messages from her friends. After she signed up, the victim found photos of her nude from the waist down. Hock allegedly commented that he knew the victim was passed out and that he was having sex with her without her knowledge.

(Update 9-6-10) Hock plead guilty to attempted sexual assault and voyeurism Thursday, September 2 in Maricopa County Superior Court for the attack. He's expected to be sentenced October 8. Apparentely, Hock is known online for his risque videoes. It is also thought that Hock specifically groomed the victim for the assault.

(Update 10-26-10) On Wednesday, October 20, Hock was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison and lifetime parole supervision. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge John Hannah presided over the sentencing. The victim said, "I opened up my home to him and ended up being molested and videotaped while sleeping."

When Judge Hannah asked about the sentence, the victim said "I think it should be more, Your Honor." Hock said that "I don't think it's fair that I should be a sex offender for the rest of my life over this."

Former Navy sailor sentenced to decade behind bars for "love" triangle slaying

On Friday, September 3, Sixto Balbuena, a former Navy sailor who stabbed "romantic" rival Samuel Valdivia to death over the affections of their "girlfriend" and former teacher Tamara Hoffman, was sentenced to a decade behind bars. This sentence was the minimum Balbuena could have gotten after his conviction of 2nd degree murder - the max he could have got was 22 years. The trial started May 28, 2010 and ended June 4. The presiding judge in the trial was Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Christopher Whitten

Balbuena and the victim, 18 year old Valdivia, were both seduced by their former math teacher as students at separate high schools. Hoffman was teaching the then 17 year old Balbuena at Tempe, AZ's Marcos de Niza High School. She was fired after police caught Balbuena with Hoffman's bra in a parked car in November 2006 . She then went to Chandler's El Dorado High School and started a sexual relationship with 18 year olf Valdivia.

On April 9, 2009, Balbuena left Naval Air Facility El Centro in California, where he was an aircraft mechanic, at about 9 p.m., after finishing his shift, and headed toward Chandler to visit his fiancee, Hoffman, then 48.

Phone records show that they exchanged cellphone calls several times that night as he made the 4 ½-hour drive. But when he reached her house, according to the attorneys' statements, Hoffman did not answer the door or her cellphone. Balbuena opened the front door.

Inside, he heard noises coming from the bedroom. He grabbed a knife from the kitchen. Then, he told police investigators - one of whom testified Thursday - he saw a shadowy figure and they tussled. Seventeen minutes after he arrived, Balbuena called police. Prosecutor Jason Kalish played the 911 call, in which Balbuena says that "some guy" had been stabbed. Hoffman can be heard sobbing in the background.

When police arrived, they found Balbuena and Hoffman sitting calmly in the living room and wondered if either had been stabbed. An officer then found Valdivia, wearing only boxer shorts, moaning on the bathroom floor, his internal organs protruding from an abdominal wound.

Valdivia, who played for El Dorado's baseball team and wrote songs, died at the scene. After the conviction, Julio Valdivia, Samuel's older brother, said  "I don't know if he's going to pay enough. It's been tough. The pain is still there. I still feel like it happened yesterday. Sometimes, I feel like I need to talk to him. He made me think and kept me out of trouble." During the sentencing hearing, Balbuena said "I'm going to face them. I want to ask your forgiveness for all that has happened," but Valdivia's family did not believe he was sincere.

The victim's mother Placida Maldonado said  "He said he didn't mean to hurt him, but I don't believe that." The victim's brother-in-law Julio Laurean said "He's going to do 10 years, but we will do a lifetime...It felt like he was just trying to get out of the hole, that's how I felt."

Valdivia's relatives also believe that Hoffman had a part in the killing. "There are two victims here. One is dead and the other now behind bars," Maldonado said. A sister said that "She's truly at fault. She's crazy and should not have been dating boys. She was 48 years old and my brother only 18."

TheArizona Board of Education investigation of Hoffman saw her surrender her teaching certificate on December 7, but she can reapply within 5 years of the surrender. No criminal chargers were ever filed regarding Hoffman.

Oro Valley man gets 25 to life for strangling "girlfriend," mom of 2

An Oro Valley, AZ man was sentenced to 25 years to life yesterday for the beating and strangulation death of his "girlfriend," 25 year old Lisa Berrie.

On Aug. 12, 2008, [36 year old Paul] Beam's father called 911 to say there had been a domestic violence incident at his son's Oro Valley apartment and his son's girlfriend had been injured. Beam was outside when police arrived, but he turned and went back inside, according to court documents. When police got him to open the door, he said he and two children were the only ones in the apartment.

During a search of the apartment, police found Berrie unconscious on the bedroom floor. She was pronounced dead at University Medical Center about an hour later. An autopsy revealed Berrie had been beaten and strangled.

During his trial, Darlene Edminson-O'Brien, assistant Pima County public defender, asked jurors to convict Beam of manslaughter, saying Beam acted in the heat of passion after Berrie told him she was leaving him and taking their 2-year-old daughter, Katlyn.

However, the victim's parents, Marc and Linda Berrie, told the court that their daughter told them Beam was abusive and that she feared for her life if she ever left him. The parents also helped their daughter apply for jobs in their home state of Delaware for an eventual move back there.

Besides the loss of their daughter, the victim's parents had to move to Tucson to take care of their grandchildren, Katlyn and 8 year old Jeremy. This was because Arizona did not want the children moved out of state. The victim's mother had to retire and become her grandkids' full time caregiver, and this has cost them their life savings.

As for the kids, Katlin reeancts her mother's last moments with her dolls and asks why she can't go and see her mom.

The victim's sister, 24 year old Suzanne Berrie, said that her sister, "a strong Viking woman," would have fought back if given the chance. "He's not a man. He's an animal." 

Jeremy, before showing Pima County Superior Court Judge Clark Munger a picture of his mother, said "I feel mad and sad. Because of this man, my sister is an orphan."

Beam himself read a statement about his "extreme regret" for the killing of Jeremy and Katlin's mom. "I cannot give back what I've taken and for that I'm truly sorry...I do not ask for forgiveness because I can't forgive myself. This never should have happened and I accept responsibility for that."

Repeat criminal sentenced to 11 1/2 years for rape of University of Arizona student

A man who raped a University of Arizona student in 2007 was sentenced to 11 1/2 years in prison Friday, October 16, by Pima County Superior Court Judge Christopher Browning. Thirty-eight year old Deguan Lamar Lee faced a sentence of 3 to 12 1/2 years on the kidnapping count and up to 3 3/4 years on the robbery count, added after Lee took the victim's cell phone.

On April 12, 2007, the student returned to the Manzanita-Mohave dormitory after having dinner with some friends. When she entered the dorm, she saw a man standing by the elevators and, uncomfortable, took the stairs.

Moments later, the student left her room to go to the bathroom, and the man pushed her into the bathroom, punched her in the face repeatedly and digitally penetrated her twice. He then grabbed her cell phone and left. Witnesses who came to check on the commotion ran into the man as he left the bathroom, and he told them, "Everything is OK."

Police arrested Lee, who was not a UA student, two years later when his DNA was linked to the case.  
 
Lee had a history of being "overly aggressive in pursuing women," according to Deputy Pima County Attorney Anita Simons. Simons asked for an aggravated sentence based of this and Lee's violation of probation for drug offenses.  
 
According to Simons, these incdients include unwanted sexual attention by Lee gaginst his daughter's teacher, and inappropriate touching of a girl's buttocks at a dance school parking lot. He "either does not understand or refuses to acknowledge that these women didn't invite his behavior," according to the prosecutor.
 
In a letter to the judge, the victim said it took her more than a month before she could use a public restroom, and when she finally used the dorm's restrooms, she took a pair of scissors and someone with her. She also couldn't sleep in her dorm room after the incident; she slept at friends' homes or at her mother's house.

At the end of the semester, the student said, she transferred schools, but she still has nightmares and crying jags. She often wakes up in the middle of the night and has to double-check the locks on her doors and windows. She sometimes feels her heart racing when she notices the bump on her nose and the scars on her lips.
 
Lee will have to register as a sex offender and have his DNA taken, since the kidnapping was found to be with sexual motivation.

Woman killed wheelchair bound man for "snitching"

A Phoenix, AZ woman admitted to killing a wheelchair-bound man after promising him sex and drugs because "he told on a righteous person years ago."

"I don't want my children or the people I consider family to be in a place where there are snitches," 33 year old Angela Simpson said. The killing is thought to have taken place August 2, after 8 PM, when the victim was last seen alive leaving his assisted living facility.

Once there, Simpson said she beat [46 year old Terry Neely] with a tire iron, hammered a nail into his head, pulled his teeth and strangled him with a television cord.

"You made him watch it through a mirror?" Wingate asked.

"Yes, I did," Simpson replied calmly. "He needed to see what he deserved."

After the killing, Simpson dismembered Neely's body and placed it in a trash can. She drove to a church where the can and its contents were set on fire. The trash can was set ablaze August 5, and Simpson was arrested August 19. After the murder, Simpson allegedly committed robbery with Edward "Cracker" McFarland. McFarland told his apartment manager about the murder, and threatened to kill the manager if he "snitched."

Autopsy results confirmed that a nail was either driven or hammered into the victim's brain. Before the dismemberment, which forced police to rely on fingerprints, Neely was stabbed approximately 50 times, including once in the throat.

The woman, already in jail when arrested, stated that she had killed before, and "I believe informants and child molesters should be killed ... period." Simpson was musing about the medication she took for mental illness, stating that "I think something's wrong with the world that I live in, but, according to other people, yes, something is wrong with me."

Teacher and softball coach indicted for 4 year relationship with female student - pleads guilty

(Original Post 12-24-07)

No, the AOC in Arizona is 18, not 16, but the betrayal of trust is still present when there is a teacher/student sex case. Also, the more information about teacher student cases that is available, the more people will know, and then do something about it.

Gay Lynn Turley, 42, was arrested Wednesday, December 19th for a sexual encounter with a 16 year old student which turned into a 4-year relationship. The now 20 year old victim told police about the relationship on December 17th, and Turley, after questioning from Sgt. Mark Marino from the Mesa Police, admitted the allegations were true. She was arrested after the last classes let out at Mesa High School, and charged with 10 counts of suspicion of sexual contact with a minor.

The East Valley Tribune has more to say about the relationship:

She started staying overnight at Turley’s house in May of that year, and the relationship eventually became sexual, Marino said. At 18, the relationship grew as the girl moved in with Turley. Things apparently soured between the two women sometime this year when, according to police, the girl moved out of Turley’s home.

The souring of the relationship also included an incident which led to criminal charges against the alleged victim, another East Valley Tribune article, "Former student involved with teacher has record" reports.

The arrest was made in August after the former student is alleged to have assaulted Mesa High School teacher and coach Gay Lyn Turley, 42, in her Gilbert home, police said. [Turley's victim] was also charged with disorderly conduct and criminal damage.

Kathy Bareiss, spokeswoman for the Mesa Unified School District, said school officials were only told about the investigation Wednesday.

Turley has been a teacher and girls golf and softball coach at Mesa High School since 1989. According to the school’s Web site, she taught six physical education classes during the fall semester. The school has started an inquiry and is assisting police with their investigation. Mesa Unified School District has placed Turley on paid leave. If the investigation reveals she broke the law or school policy, she will be fired, school officials said.

It appears Turley was still teaching even while police were investigating her, Bareiss said. Bareiss said the district plans to conduct an inquiry and assist police officers with their investigation.“We have a due process,” she said. “We’re trying to be fair to everybody.”If it turns out Turley broke the law or district policy, she will be fired, Bareiss said.

If the investigations are not over when the next semester starts on Jan. 3, Turley will be placed on paid leave, she said.According to the school’s Web site, Turley taught six physical education and sports classes during the fall semester and is scheduled to teach six more in the spring.

Marino said police are concerned there may be other victims and asked anyone with information to call them at (480) 503-6500.

Turley has been released from jail and is on house arrest.

(Update 7-25-08) Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Helene Abrams will considering accepting Turley's plea agreement to sexual contact with a minor. The charge, a "wobbler" under Arizona law, carries a sentence of six months in jail if a misdemeanor, or a year in prison if a felony. Turley will forfeit her pension, serve at least a decade of probation, register as a SO (which is life in AZ), and forfeit her pension. The charge can be reduced to a misdemeanor from a felony because the victim's abuse started when she was 15.

The victim, who is not being identified because she is a sex crimes victim, said in court that she had been informed about the plea agreement but had not consented to it.

"It started when I was 15, until I was 18, on a nightly basis," the victim told Abrams. She said she is upset that the crime could be designated a misdemeanor after Turley served 10 years of probation.

"It seems like she's getting off awfully easy," the victim said.

The charge is a class six felony and can be reduced to a misdemeanor because the victim was more than 15 years when the crime occurred.

Deputy County Attorney Harold Brenneman Jr asked Abrams to defer sentencing until August 27 due to the victim's reluctance to accept the plea agreement, and Abrams accepted.

(Update 9-25-08) Turley was sentenced on September 19 to a decade of probation, ordered to register as a sex offender, and ordered to give up her teaching certificate for the abusive relationship. The victim, Charmai Choate, talks about trips to Hawaii, among other places and how she felt that Turley took advantage of a 15 year old girl without a family. Choate, in the interview on the linked page, shows mixed feelings about Turley, but says she came forward for other victims.

Woman pleads guilty to killing abusive "partner"

A woman who shot her boyfriend to death last year did so because of the abuse she endured just before the rape and also because he threatened to kidnap, rape, and kill kids, her defense attorney told Judge Deborah Bernini on Monday.

Details of Damien Blaine Thorn's life and death were revealed Monday when Danielle Marie McFarland, 26, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Pima County Superior Court.

Assistant Pima County Public Defender John Seamon told the judge that Thorn, 42, and McFarland were a live-in couple for the five years, with the last two of those years featuring increasing physical and psychological abuse.

Thorn, armed with a Desert Eagle .44 Magnum, picked up McFarland from work on Monday, July 9, Seamon said.

He told her that if she hadn’t been at work, he would have hunted her down and killed her, Seamon said.

Over the next five days, Thorn kept McFarland naked and restrained, only releasing her to complete certain chores, Seamon said.

Thorn repeatedly told McFarland he would kill her unless she helped him kidnap small children so he could have sex with them and murder them, Seamon said.

That Friday, Thorn released McFarland from her restraints so she could sign a contract in blood and perform her duties, Seamon said. McFarland was able to retrieve Thorn’s gun from another room after receiving permission from him to turn off the lights, Seamon said.

When McFarland pointed the gun at him, Thorn laughed and told her if she didn’t shoot him, he was going to restrain her, kill her mother, kidnap, rape and kill a child and then kill her, Seamon said.

It was only at that point, Seamon said, that McFarland shot and killed Thorn.
McFarland called 911 from the couple’s home in the 9200 block of East Tanque Verde Road.

When the case was presented to a grand jury, court documents indicated that Thorn and McFarland were engaged in a “consensual” master-slave relationship, but that there were witnesses who would testify that McFarland was a victim of domestic violence.

One of these witnesses, Thorn’s ex-wife, told detectives that he changed his real name to Damien Thorn from Richard Meager because that’s the Antichrist’s name from the movie “The Omen.”

The former wife also told detectives Thorn was extremely abusive during their marriage, liked “little girls” and required her to stay in a dog kennel, court documents indicate.

Other witnesses confirmed that McFarland was often covered in bruises, and that Thorn had an “unhealthy interest in small children.”

Seamon told Bernini that the defendant planned to move to New York, and Bernini gave McFarland permission to travel to New York before sentencing on July 18. McFarland faces a sentencing range from probation to 5 years.

University of Arizona football player charged with sex assault

A University of Arizona football player was indicted on sexual assault charges after an incident which occured last April 2. Johnathan Turner, 23, was indicted May 16, according to a Pima County sheriff's department spokeswoman. The victim was a fellow UA student.

The indictment stems from an incident April 2 when the victim told authorities she and some of her friends were drinking at a residence near North Camino de Oeste and West Sweetwater Drive, Hanke said. The victim said she passed out on a couch and woke up around 2:30 a.m. to find Turner sexually assaulting her, according to a search-warrant affidavit filed in Pima County Superior Court shortly after the incident.

The victim said she pushed Turner off her, went into a bedroom and told her friend what had just happened, the affidavit said.

"Mr. Turner followed her into the bedroom and stated nothing had happened," the search-warrant affidavit said. "He described (the victim) as 'tripping out.' He continued to state he was just 'cuddling' with (the victim)."

The victim was taken to St. Mary's Hospital by her friends, and sheriff's adult-sex-crimes detectives investigated. DNA evidence was obtained, along with two quilts and seat cushions from the couch, the search warrant shows.

Turner, from Corona, Calif., was not booked into jail, Hanke said. He is a junior defensive end for the UA football team and a sociology major. The charge, a Class 2 felony, carries 5 to 14 years in prison.

Coach Mike Stoops suspended Turner from the team on April 5, supposedly for unspecified reasons, but had been monitoring the investigation, which fingered Turner as a person of interest early.

"I'm obviously aware of the situation, and I will let the judicial system take its course," Stoops said. "We'll have some kind of statement when it moves further."

Stoops will meet with Athletic Director Jim Livengood this week to talk about Turner's status. For now, Turner will remain on scholarship but will not be able to practice or work out with the team, Stoops said.

"I really haven't talked to Jim about that or the university," Stoops said. "I'm sure we'll discuss that and what's best for all parties, and make some kind of decision this week."

According to the university's student athlete code of conduct, Turner could lose his scholarship [No duh! He'll be losing a lot more than that - like freedom, on not having the stigma of being a sex offender.]

Turner, a 6-foot-3-inch, 263-pounder, was expected to start this fall at defensive end. He has 25 career starts, third-highest on the team.

Arizona man charged with raping 93 year old neighbor

Peter Cupis, 28, allegedly went to the home of a 93 year old woman in his neighborhood March 20 to rape her and was arrested after she summoned help from her family through her medical alert bracelet. He gained entry to the victim’s home through a side door. When the woman heard someone at the door, she went to it and was attacked. She suffered injuries requiring hospitalization.

Cupis was charged with second-degree burglary, two counts of sexual assault and sexual abuse. Cupis is being held without bond because of the assault charge.

A family member who arrived after responding to the medical alert prevented Cupis from leaving the home, police said.

Officers arrived and took Cupis into custody without further incident.

Cupis told officers that he was trying to help the victim after he saw her walking outside of her home, police said. Investigators said they gathered evidence to support that an attack did occur and that Cupis was the perpetrator.

Arizona man with IQ of 62 sentenced to 3 1/2 years

A man with an IQ of 62 who dropped out of 6th grade was sentenced to 3 ½ years in prison March 3, the minimum sentence for the rape of a Tucson woman in July of 1998. She was raped as she was walking to work near the intersection of E. 14th St. & S. 6th Av. by Alvin F. Lambert, 50.

DNA evidence was collected from the victim and entered into a national database, but there were no arrests until Lambert was arrested last year on an unrelated felony and his DNA entered into the same database.

Lambert was facing charges of sexual assault, sexual abuse, and kidnapping, but plead to attempted sexual assault last month. The 3 ½ years in prison was the minimum sentence as stipulated in the plea agreement, he faced up to 8 ¾ years in prison.