The jury was out just 40 minutes before it came back with guilty verdicts against Joseluis Marquez for murdering Arizona State University student Kyleigh Sousa during a 2010 robbery in the downtown Tempe area as she walked across the street from a police station.
Marquez, who led a gang of career criminals, faces life in prison when sentenced on Dec. 14.
Sousa’s death was the first of three murders in 2010 that cost the lives of college students in the notorious downtown Tempe area.
Three senseless murders committed by career criminals in a community whose crime problems continue to be in the headlines.
On Nov. 21, a young woman was found murdered not far from where Sousa died. And on Nov. 30, an ASU student, who was drinking illegally at a popular Tempe bar during a fraternity function, went missing. His mother, not police, found his distinctive red shoe nearby.
In the Nov. 28 Arizona Republic story, “Property crimes edge up in Mesa, Tempe,” police spokesman Sgt. Mike Pooley “attributed Tempe’s high crime-rate ranking to the large number of visitors who come into the city for Arizona State University and entertainment venues.” Tempe has historically blamed ASU and others for its crime problems.
In an Oct. 26, 2012 email from Tempe City Hall to all city employees, Police Chief Tom Ryff tells co-workers, “We are a big city with some big city problems and we can employee (sic) the resources that a bigger city can develop to solve problems. At the same time we are a small town that won’t let negative elements take over our small town.” Ryff went to say “Tempe is situated in-between two much larger cities, we have four major freeways, two large malls, and one of the nation’s largest public universities.”
Tempe’s crime rate, according to the FBI, is 21 points higher than Mesa’s, 10 points higher than Phoenix’s, the two cities Tempe is “in-between.” Phoenix and Mesa also have freeways, malls, college campuses, and a wealth of visitors within their jurisdictions.
According to the Arizona Republic’s City Comparison Guide, Tempe has nearly the same number of police officers per 10,000 residents as Phoenix, more officers than Mesa and spends more on policing than both cities.
Even with plenty of officers and funding, Tempe headlines are about the Sinaloa Drug Cartel, violence between warring street gangs, downtown crime, sex crimes and murders.
Recent headlines involve gang fights between ASU fraternities in Tempe apartment buildings. The Dec. 6 Arizona Republic story, “ASU fraternities frustrate police in Tempe,” has Sgt. Pooley, describing one recent fraternity crime spree as a “gang style assault.”
KPHO Channel 5 reported on Dec. 6 that “records show Tempe police responded to known fraternity addresses more than 150 times since August. This is a hot topic in Tempe right now; it is being discussed by the mayor, council, police and ASU officials.”
Tempe has a one major crime problem after another.
Has the time come for Tempe residents to ask Sheriff Joe Arpaio to send in his deputies for crime suppression sweeps to get a handle on crime?
Does the mayor and city council need to ask the feds to send the U.S. Marshal and Drug Enforcement Administration to Tempe to target career criminals and drug dealers? What about asking Gov. Jan Brewer to order the Arizona Department of Public Safety’s GIITEM Gang Unit to Tempe to target gangsters?
U. S. Marshals, deputy sheriffs and state troopers are known to strike fear in the hearts of criminals, and they get results.
Tempe has good street cops but is the police department’s homegrown “small town” leadership ready for “big city” crime?
As Kyeligh Sousa’s family finally sees justice done, the time has come for Tempe to do all it can to make sure no more moms and dads have to bury a child they send to Tempe to get a college education.
hillstreet posted at 11:14 am on Thu, Dec 27, 2012.
"Has the time come for Tempe residents to ask Sheriff Joe Arpaio to send in his deputies for crime suppression sweeps to get a handle on crime?"
As soon as the crowds in downtown and the fraternity hoodlums and other assorted crums are identified as illegal aliens, then YES.
Until then, lets keep Arpaio's jack-booted mexican-hating badge-carrying hoodlums away, shall we?[beam]
Sundevils12 posted at 6:57 pm on Mon, Dec 17, 2012.
It is highly offensive that you tie murders and thugs with fraternities. Having parties on weekends should not be in the same paragraph as cold blooded murder. ASU has forced fraternities off campus so that they now live in apartment complexes. Fraternities are going to have parties, that's never going to end. Tempe police make way to much money off writing underage drinking tickets, so the majority of their time and money is going to be spent on these college parties. As for the "gang style fight", that was an isolated incidents between a few member of two fraternities and in no way can that incident be generalized to the entire Greek life at ASU.
James Novak posted at 1:07 pm on Sun, Dec 16, 2012.
[beam][thumbup]
Another great article. Thanks for this update.
Bluepoet posted at 2:53 pm on Sat, Dec 15, 2012.
This guy writes like Joe Friday, chewing on a sprig of hay...
Arizona Willie posted at 8:11 am on Sat, Dec 15, 2012.
chatmandu--- it has been more than obvious for a long long time that the author has been on a vendetta against both Sheriff Joe and the Tempe police department.
The intriguing question is why the EVT continues to give him a pulpit with which to pursue his vendetta.
chatmandu002 posted at 10:15 pm on Fri, Dec 14, 2012.
Bill,
Your are beating a dead horse. We all know that Tempe has a crime problem and we all know that is because of ASU. Not that ASU is bad but because the largest university in AZ attracts a large liberal/progressive group of young people wanting to party. This attracts the criminals elements that prey on and provide the drugs used by these youngsters. I think Tempe's crime rate would be equal with other cities that host a university of the this size. Let's face it, since the 1960s, the universities have become much more liberal and progressive when it comes to drug use by the students. I wonder if Tucson's crime rate is elevated because of the UofA? I don't see any purpose in your continued chiding and rage against the Tempe police. It seems you are on a personal vendetta against the Tempe police department or it's leadership.
PCSO101 posted at 8:05 pm on Fri, Dec 14, 2012.
That was a presumptuous statement. Untrue and mean. You have taken the meaning of what was written and skewered it into a political statement. May God help you find happiness in the world. Maybe it's liberal thinking, or Democratic thinking, or the just the meaning behind what Easter truly is, but peace begins with an open heart and an open mind. Obviously, it wasn't your children who were taught to treat others as you would want others to treat you. Hopefully, they find someone who they can learn to be compassionate from. Love is nurtured.
PCSO101 posted at 8:02 pm on Fri, Dec 14, 2012.
When I read your columns, I put your face to Glinda, the Good Witch, in her descent to the stage with her glittering magic wand and her singsong voice.
Do they still make barf bags for airlines? I think I need one.
When I want a reality check, I read your column. Your reality makes me laugh. Every single time. My reality as a married parent has never been yours. I'm proud of that! My reality has achieved marketable, successful offspring in a global economy where they make a difference every single day. All while working outside of the home, as well as inside of the home.
What's exactly is your point? I can never figure it out--in any reality-based way. It's like being able to read fingernails scratching a chalkboard. I cringe.
downtownresident posted at 7:23 pm on Fri, Dec 14, 2012.
If you keep doing what you always did, you'll keep getting what you always got!
tededitedit posted at 7:13 pm on Fri, Dec 14, 2012.
I think ASU students and dropouts do make for higher crime in the Tempe area. Reports from friends in Tempe are that renters in neighborhoods aren't good neighbors and break the law routinely with late night, loud partying. They couldn't say if they knew of any loud party ever broken up by a routine patrol. The "party" atmosphere draws all kinds of creeps and criminals. If Tempe had more police on the street and fewer police commanders and above in the office then maybe their visibility and their arrests would go up...and maybe crime would go down.