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/ P. 24
/ P. 15 An edition of the East Valley Tribune
Sunday, October 24, 2021
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE THE EAST VALLEY) | TheMesaTribune.com
Domestic violence cases soaring in Mesa BY TOM SCANLON Tribune Managing Editor
NEWS ..................... 8 Mesa schools see COVID slink away.
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s a prosecutor for the city of Mesa, Stacey Good takes scores of domestic violence cases to trial every month. Most of the cases of husbands punching wives and boyfriends knocking down girlfriends are quickly forgotten, but there’s one the prosecutor can’t shake: Viridiana Gonzalez-Saavedra. Valley newspapers and TV stations reported the shocking stabbing of the pregnant,
28-year-old woman June 30, 2017. Her husband, Gustavo Lamar, was quickly arrested and charged with murder. But those reports didn’t tell the back story Good knew all too well: It wasn’t the first time Lamar assaulted his wife. “This is a case that kind of haunts me,” Good said. Months before the murder, Lamar was arrested for domestic violence. As his trial approached, his wife “did not want to participate in the prosecution,” Good recalled. “She diminished his conduct, blaming herself for
Honored teacher
BUSINESS ............. 18 More healthy eating on way in Mesa.
SPORTS ............... 22
Zone
see DOMESTIC VIOLENCE page 3
Mesa detective saluted for shoplifter busts BY TOM SCANLON Tribune Managing Editor
Red Mountain High's golf team settling in.
COMMUNITY ............................... 15 BUSINESS ..................................... 18 OPINION .. ..................................... 20 SPORTS ........................................ 22 GET OUT ...................................... 24 PUZZLES ...................................... 25 CLASSIFIED ................................. 27
everything that happened. She started recanting her testimony.” At the victim’s request, Good offered a plea deal to Lamar with a jail sentence suspended. “Within a year, he stabbed her to death – and her baby,” Good said. “That one sticks with me,” the prosecutor said. “I wish I could have done more.” In the hope that situations like that will be avoided, Good will speak at Mesa’s Domestic Violence Awareness Night at 5:30 p.m. Tues
Even though she won the top award a teacher in Arizona can win, Mesa Public Schools teacher Nancy Para-Quinlan was on the job last week For the story, turn to page 6. (David Minton/Tribune Staff Photographer)
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hoplifting. No big deal, right? Don’t say that around Det. Jerry Davis. The Mesa Police Department detective specializes in busting big-ticket shoplifters. He stresses two reasons people should be concerned about shoplifting. For one, “It hurts everyone. When people steal stuff, prices go up,” the mild-mannered Davis said. But there’s a second reason police are on the alert for the snatch-and-run crowd. “It’s a ‘gateway crime.’ It’s a running joke in the office,” Davis said. “When we catch some
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see SHOPLIFTER page 8
