XPost: alt.law-enforcement.corruption, sac.politics, alt.politics.democrats   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns   
   From: david.fritz@vzw.com   
      
   A State of Arizona employee and her husband, a Phoenix Police Department   
   detective, are accused of using pawn shops to traffic guns and body-   
   mounted police cameras in an elaborate scheme first discovered last year   
   in a made-for-Hollywood cash heist.   
      
   Autumn Maya, an Arizona Department of Economic Security employee, and her   
   husband, Phoenix property crimes detective Michael Maya, were arrested   
   Wednesday on suspicion of felony theft, conspiracy, money laundering and   
   forgery allegations, court records show.   
      
   The case dates to December 2016, when DES employees logged $3,488 into an   
   envelope after an undercover law enforcement investigation. They put the   
   cash — 179 bills clipped into three bundles — into a safe at DES offices   
   in Phoenix.   
      
   A year later, someone preparing for an undercover operation went to   
   collect the cash.   
      
   When the person opened the envelope, the cash was gone.   
      
   They instead discovered "133 pieces of white copy paper, cut to the size   
   of United States currency and bound together in three bundles,"   
   investigators wrote.   
      
   Interviews revealed Autumn Maya, 39, had access to the safe to conduct   
   occasional audits of DES-owned guns in storage, per her job as a   
   detective. She denied dealing with the cash, saying only that she might   
   have touched the envelope to get to guns in the safe.   
      
   'Playing a game'   
   Fingerprint analysis on and around the blank paper revealed Maya's   
   thumbprints, but she denied involvement in the theft. She later said she   
   thought investigators were "playing a game" with her, investigators wrote.   
      
   Arizona Department of Public Safety investigators dug deeper into the   
   woman's past and learned she worked as a property custodian with the   
   Arizona Attorney General's Office where she had access to valuable items   
   and guns seized during investigations.   
      
   Using receipts, security cameras and departmental reviews, investigators   
   determined she completed 13 pawnshop transactions with guns owned by the   
   AG's Office and DES.   
      
   Records show she also pawned 17 law enforcement body-mounted cameras that   
   she allegedly swindled from the state and sold under the guise of Thor   
   Security Services LLC — a non-existent organization.   
      
   Michael Maya in an interview said he knew his wife pawned several items   
   and guns and would ask him for money to get the items out.   
      
   Though he said he was unaware of her pawning Arizona-owned property and   
   giving her money to get the guns removed, investigators believed he was   
   "actively participating in the ongoing conspiracy to traffic in stolen   
   state property."   
      
   Autumn Vasquez Maya was arrested on suspicion of 13 counts each of   
   fraudulent schemes, forgery, trafficking stolen property, money   
   laundering, theft and conspiracy, court records show.   
      
   Michael Maya, 45, was also jailed on suspicion of two counts of first-   
   degree trafficking stolen property, money laundering and conspiracy.   
      
   Termination process started for detective   
   He is a 24-year Phoenix police veteran, and officials have started the   
   process to terminate his employment, said Sgt. Jonathan Howard, police   
   spokesman.   
      
   A Maricopa County Superior Court judge determined they did not pose a risk   
   of fleeing the area and released them on their own recognizance.   
      
   Formal charges are pending; they are next due in court April 19.   
      
   DES declined to comment for this story.   
      
   https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2018/04/05/des-   
   employee-cop-husband-accused-pawning-state-owned-guns-body-   
   cameras/490032002/   
      
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