Casa Grande man sentenced to 28 years for murder of Good Samaritan who tried to break up fight

FLORENCE, AZ (September 28th, 2023) - A Casa Grande man has been sentenced to 28 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for the murder of an innocent bystander who tried to break up a fight between the suspect and the suspect’s girlfriend.

On September 28th, 2023, Pinal County Superior Court Judge Daniel Washburn sentenced Giovanni Olivieri, 24, to 28 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections, followed by community supervision.

A jury found Olivieri guilty of Second Degree Murder, a Class One Felony; Endangerment, a Class Six Felony;  Unlawful Discharge of a Firearm Within City Limits, a Class Six Felony; Disorderly Conduct, a Class One Misdemeanor; and Assault, a Class Two Misdemeanor.

The jury found 12 aggravating factors in this case and the judge determined the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors.

In September, 2021, the Casa Grande Police Department responded to a hotel in the 700 block of North Pinal Avenue for reports of a shooting. Officers located an injured man on the ground in the parking lot, along with multiple shell casings. Witnesses told officers that the suspect, later identified as Olivieri, was arguing with his girlfriend in the parking lot and even grabbed her by the hair and neck area and dragged her across the lot.

During the altercation, another man, Brian Robinette, 35, came across the parking lot and approached the couple in an attempt to get Olivieri to let go of his girlfriend. Robinette did not know the couple and was an innocent bystander trying to help. When approached, Olivieri let go of his girlfriend and shot Robinette. In total, Olivieri shot Robinette eight times.

There were multiple witnesses to the shooting, who were also endangered by the gunfire. The incident was captured on surveillance video.

At sentencing, loved ones remembered Robinette as a loving father to two kids, someone who loved music and playing guitar, and those who spoke expressed the huge emotional impact Robinette’s death has left on his family and friends.

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Coolidge man sentenced to more than 20 years for continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14

FLORENCE, AZ (September 20, 2023) - A Coolidge man has been sentenced to more than 20 years in prison for continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14.
On September 18th, 2023, Pinal County Superior Court Judge Jason Holmberg sentenced James Davis, 52, to 23 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections.  Davis was also ordered to register as a sex offender.

In August, a jury found Davis guilty of Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Child, a Class Two Felony and Dangerous Crime Against Children.

In March 2021, Davis went to the Coolidge Police Department and confessed to having illicit sexual contact with a juvenile under the age of 14 on multiple occasions. The incidents occurred between 2005 and 2014. Davis later claimed he was not in the right state of mind at the time he confessed.  At trial, the victim testified and other evidence was presented that corroborated the statements made by Davis.

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New Mexico man sentenced to 20 years for attempted murder of construction worker

(FLORENCE, AZ) - A New Mexico man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for the attempted murder of a construction worker on the jobsite.

On August 28th, 2023, Pinal County Superior Court Judge Danielle Harris sentenced Michael Tyner, 40, to 20 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections.

Tyner pled guilty to Attempt to Commit First Degree Murder, a Class Two Felony with two prior felony convictions.

In April 2022, the Gila River Police Department responded to the area of Gilbert Road and Hunt Highway reference a shooting. Officers located a man on a construction site who sustained two gunshot wounds to the lower back and leg. Witnesses on scene described the suspect as a man wearing a long sleeve blue shirt and jeans with long hair. The suspect had fled the scene.

During the course of the investigation, officers attempted to pull over a Toyota Tacoma and the driver refused to stop. A vehicle pursuit was initiated, which led through Sacaton and Chandler, coming to an end when the driver of the vehicle collided with a Chandler Police patrol unit near Gilbert and Riggs Roads. The driver, identified as Michael Tyner, was taken into custody. Investigators noted Tyner matched the description of the shooting suspect.

The shooting victim told officers he was working on a job site as a driller when he noticed another man holding a metal pipe with long hair. While the victim thought the man was another worker, that’s when he got shot and suddenly felt pain in his back and fell to the ground. The victim indicated the suspect continued to shoot at him while he was on the ground. The victim indicated he did not know the suspect, who eventually ran away.

Investigators were able to locate a Toyota Tacoma on surveillance video at the construction site. When shown a photo array, both a witness and the victim positively identified Tyner as the suspect.

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Maricopa man sentenced to 20 years in prison for multiple felony offenses

(FLORENCE, AZ,  August 21st, 2023) - A Maricopa man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for multiple felony offenses including possession of dangerous drugs for sale, attempted first degree murder and participating in a criminal street gang.

On August 14th, 2023 Pinal County Superior Court Judge Daniel Washburn sentenced Joey Mata, 38, to 20 years flat time in the Arizona Department of Corrections.

Mata pled guilty to Attempted First Degree Murder, a Class 2 Dangerous Felony; Participating in a Criminal Street Gang, a Class Two Felony; and Possession of Dangerous Drugs for Sale, a Class Two Felony.

The three cases include the below separate incidents:

In April, 2016 Mata went to another man's residence, waited outside, and shot at him when the victim came out of the house. The victim pursued Mata and they ended up in an alleyway where Mata fired more shots at the victim. Investigators determined the victim and Mata knew each other and Mata was identified as the suspect. (Attempted First Degree Murder).

In January, 2022, while in custody of the Pinal County Detention Facility, a detention officer located a handwritten note, called a 'Kite,' in the pod where Mata and other members of the Arizona Mexican Mafia were housed. The note was a directive from the highest ranking member of the Arizona Mexican Mafia to assault night staff at the jail. The Arizona Department of Public Safety conducted a handwriting comparison and confirmed Mata as the author (Participating in a Criminal Street Gang).

While out on bail for the two prior incidents, Mata was pulled over for a traffic stop by the Casa Grande Police Department in January 2023. During the traffic stop, an officer noticed drug paraphernalia in plain view.  While Mata was detained, officers searched the vehicle and located seven pounds of methamphetamine, a digital scale, and several thousand dollars in cash, among other items (Possession of Dangerous Drugs for Sale).

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Casa Grande man sentenced to decade in prison for possessing sexually explicit images of children

(FLORENCE, AZ) - A Casa Grande man has been sentenced to a decade in prison for possessing sexually explicit images of children.

On August 14th, 2023, Pinal County Superior Court Judge Danielle Harris sentenced Phillip Jason McIntyre to 10 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections, followed by two terms of supervised lifetime probation.

McIntyre pled guilty to one count of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, a Class Two Felony and Dangerous Crime Against Children, and two counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor in the Second Degree, each a Class Three Felony and Preparatory Dangerous Crime Against Children.

In August 2020, the social media app SnapChat notified the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) about two uploaded images depicting sexually explicit content involving a minor. Investigators determined the uploaded images came from an IP address belonging to McIntyre. The Casa Grande Police Department obtained and served a search warrant on McIntyre's apartment and recovered multiple phones and laptops that were sent for processing.

The Casa Grande Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations were involved in this investigation.

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San Tan Valley woman sentenced to more than 20 years in prison for 2x fatal crash

(FLORENCE, AZ, August 14, 2023) - A San Tan Valley woman has been sentenced to more than 20 years in prison for killing two people in another vehicle when she crashed into it while driving under the influence.

On August 11, 2023, Pinal County Superior Court Judge Danielle Harris sentenced Janelle Littlebear, 39, to 21 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections.

Littlebear pled guilty to two counts of Manslaughter, both Class Two Felonies.

On August 13th, 2022, Littlebear was driving her Toyota Camry northbound on Gantzel Road in San Tan Valley when she veered off the roadway onto the dirt shoulder before the vehicle traveled back sideways across the northbound lanes, onto the dirt median and collided with a southbound vehicle. The driver and passenger in the southbound vehicle were pronounced deceased and identified as Richard Hanson, 78, and Kathleen Franta, 78.

During the course of the investigation, witnesses indicated Littlebear was speeding prior to the vehicle veering off the roadway. A blood draw conducted on Littlebear at the hospital showed her BAC to be .271, or more than three times the legal limit.

This case was investigated by the Pinal County Sheriff's Office.

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Arizona inmate sentenced to death for 2014 prison murder

(FLORENCE, AZ) - A jury has sentenced an inmate within the Arizona Department of Corrections to death for the murder of another inmate nearly a decade ago.

On August 1st, 2023, a Pinal County Superior Court jury sentenced Julio Salazar, 41, to death.

A jury previously found Salazar guilty of Premeditated First Degree Murder, a Class One Felony.

On August 16th, 2014, staff at the ASPC-Eyman complex in Florence responded to an incident in the basketball enclosure, and found inmate Lino Flores, 53, lying face up in a pool of blood. The suspect, who was also inside the basketball enclosure, was identified as inmate Julio Salazar, who had blood covering his shoes and socks.

One of the security cameras captured the incident on video. The video shows another inmate placing a ‘shank’ inside a water cooler within the basketball area prior to Salazar’s arrival. Salazar is shown on video removing the item from the cooler and attacking Flores, stabbing him in the head and body while playing basketball. Salazar also punched Flores multiple times in the head, kicked him, stomped and punched his head several times while on the ground, put him in a choke hold and took the prison made weapon and stabbed the victim in the forehead. The assault continued and ended with Salazar stepping on Flores’ face with his entire body weight. Video shows Salazar then dancing around the enclosure. In all, investigators determined Flores was stabbed and stomped hundreds of times over the span of 47 minutes.

An autopsy showed the victim suffered a crushed skull, broken ribs and a fractured larynx, among other injuries. The doctor who performed the autopsy noted the victim’s body was in a condition “similar to a person in a motor vehicle accident.”

The aggravating factors in this case included that the murder was especially heinous or especially depraved, a serious prior felony conviction by the defendant, and that the offense occurred in the State Department of Corrections.

Salazar’s serious prior offenses included a Manslaughter from 2000 and a 2007 Attempted Murder of an Arizona Correctional Officer.

This case is the first time a Pinal County jury has imposed the death penalty in more than 20 years.

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Surprise man sentenced to 25 years for luring a minor, child sex trafficking

(FLORENCE, AZ August 1st, 2023) - A Surprise man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for child sex trafficking and luring an underage girl via a social media app to engage in sexual activity as the victim “needed the money to help her mom pay their rent.”

On July 31, 2023, Pinal County Superior Court Judge Daniel Washburn sentenced Joel Disanto, 47, to 25 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections, followed by lifetime probation.

DiSanto pled guilty to Aggravated Luring of a Minor, a Class Two Felony; and Child Sex Trafficking, a Class Two Felony and Dangerous Crime Against Children.

In October, 2022, the mother of a 15-year-old went through her phone and discovered sexually explicit images of her daughter that were being sent through Snap Chat. The victim’s older sister also searched the victim’s cell phone and found a text message indicating the victim had sex with a male in his 40s. During a forensic interview with the victim, she disclosed that she had met a number of men on Snap Chat who sent her sexually explicit material, and that she had been communicating with a subject by the username ‘Daniel Donkey.’ The victim indicated the person behind the username wanted to meet with her in order to engage in sexual activity, and offered to pay her. According to law enforcement, the victim noted that “she needed the money to help her mom pay their rent.”

The victim disclosed that in September 2022 she met with “Daniel Donkey” in Casa Grande and engaged in a sex act with him after making it clear she was 15 years old.

During the investigation, the Casa Grande Police Department obtained a search warrant for the Snapchat account, which helped to identify the account’s creator as DiSanto. DiSanto’s physical characteristics also matched the description provided by the victim. DiSanto was already listed as a sex offender and a sexually violent predator.

Investigators located sexually explicit material on DiSanto’s Snapchat account. The geolocation of his phone also provided details helping to corroborate the victim’s account.

 

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Eloy man sentenced to seven years for two incidents involving a firearm

(FLORENCE, AZ) - An Eloy man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for pointing a gun toward several juveniles and for his involvement in a shooting that same day.

On June 26th, 2023, Pinal County Superior Court Judge Robert Olson sentenced Chico Garcia, 19, to seven years in the Arizona Department of Corrections.

Garcia pled guilty to two (2) counts of Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon, both Class 3 Felonies.

In February 2022, the Eloy Police Department investigated the incident which occurred at a local gas station. Garcia pulled out a handgun while at the business and pointed it at three juveniles who were in a vehicle and threatened them. That same day, Garcia was involved in a car chase and fired three shots from his vehicle. Five people witnessed this incident.

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San Tan Valley man sentenced to more than decade in prison for death of three passengers in vehicle

(FLORENCE, AZ) - A San Tan Valley man has been sentenced to more than a decade in prison for the death of three passengers of a vehicle he was driving that crashed while fleeing law enforcement.

On June 19th, 2023, Pinal County Superior Court Judge Robert Olson sentenced Juan Sanchez, 21, to 14 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections.

Sanchez pled guilty to three (3) counts of Manslaughter, all Class 2 Felonies.

In February 2019, deputies with the PInal County Sheriff's Office attempted to pull over Sanchez, when he accelerated to speeds in excess of 70mph. Deputies noted Sanchez was driving in a manner to overtly flee law enforcement, and at one point conducted an improper U-turn that entered a residential yard. Sanchez again accelerated to a high rate of speed onto Schnepf Road, failing to stop at the posted stop sign and failing to yield to opposing traffic. At one point the vehicle reached speeds in excess of 100mph and ultimately the driver lost control of the vehicle while driving along the dirt shoulder.The vehicle veered across the road and collided with a fixed concrete structure. Three of the occupants of the vehicle died as a result of the collision.

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