| NEWS | Bad from p 13 Chavez was treated at the hospital for minor injuries, and no one was prosecuted. Two months later, though, Buckner was in hot water again, this time off duty in Las Vegas. According to the POST investiga- tors’ telling, Buckner got drunk at the Mandalay Bay resort and casino, and got in an altercation with security guards, who ordered him off the property. Reportedly, he informed them that he “could take all three of you,” adding that he had “jurisdic- tion over the whole West Coast.” The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department was called after Buckner returned to the casino, investigators said. He later lied to his supervisor when he told the Phoenix Police Department about the incident, saying he hadn’t interacted with any law enforcement, Phoenix’s internal investigation found. Buckner resigned from the force in October 2021. Buckner stopped responding to queries on social media from New Times. The union that represents Phoenix police offi- cers, the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, also did not reply to inquiries. The POST board also recently opened another case into a Phoenix officer, Jonathan Portillo-Chavez. The incident occurred when several officers detained a man who was speaking to a woman whom the officers believed was a sex worker. It’s unclear if this man was ever charged with a crime. Portillo-Chavez, according to the Phoenix Police Department’s internal investigation, first asked the man if he was speaking to the woman because he couldn’t “get any.” The conversation spiraled from there: Portillo-Chavez grabbed his firearm, asked the man if he was afraid, and whether he “watched the news.” When the man, according to inves- tigators, “responded and intimated he was not worried about dying,” Portillo-Chavez said he should “keep that in mind.” Investigators reported the man later said he viewed this as a threat of violence, and submitted a complaint to the city after the incident. When the man then called his mother to inform her that he was being detained, Portillo-Chavez mocked him using a “baby voice,” investigators said. Portillo-Chavez later said in an internal interview that he had done so “to highlight that [the detained man] was not able to handle the situation.” He then flipped off the man as other officers laughed. “I just believe it was one of those days where I let him get the better of me and kind of just exploded,” Portillo-Chavez told investigators. An internal investigation by the Phoenix 14 Police Department found that the interac- tion amounted to harassment and intimida- tion, and the officer received a 240-hour suspension. Arizona POST declined to take WHEN A MAN CALLED HIS MOTHER TO INFORM HER THAT HE WAS BEING DETAINED, PHOENIX OFFICER JONATHAN PORTILLO-CHAVEZ MOCKED HIM USING A “BABY VOICE,” INVESTIGATORS SAID. any further action against him given that he already had served the suspension. Finally, Arizona POST also is investi- gating Danny Rubio, another former Phoenix cop, who allegedly claimed a $6,000 essential workers child care benefit he was not entitled to due to his income level. The Arizona Department of Economic Security recommended to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office that he be charged with three felony counts for fraudulently claiming the money. MCAO declined prosecution. But according to court records, Rubio also faces more serious criminal charges that were not mentioned by the board last week. In December, the Tempe Police Department opened an investigation into Rubio. On April 18, MCAO charged him with three counts of child abuse, a class four felony. After Rubio’s son went to school with visible injuries and disclosed that his father had “physically abused him by using a closed fist to knock on his head,” court records show, Tempe police opened their investigation. Rubio isn’t the first Phoenix officer to face child abuse allegations in recent months. Tempe officers on the case discovered an “extensive history of reported child abuse” reported to the Department of Child Services. Two women who are the mothers of Rubio’s children have orders of protection against him, the officer noted in his report on the matter. In December, Rubio was listed in court records as an officer “on extended leave” with the Phoenix Police Department. He had worked at the department for more than three years by that time. Arizona POST investigators said he has since been terminated from the agency, though it’s not clear when. It’s also not clear whether Arizona POST is aware of more recent charges against Rubio. At the April meeting, state investigators said the board was notified of potential criminal conduct by Rubio on December 23, two days after his arrest. They did not specify what this criminal conduct was. Investigators then requested further information on Rubio from the Phoenix Police Department, which ultimately provided Arizona POST an internal inves- tigation into the fraud allegations . A Phoenix police spokesperson wrote that the agency was aware of the charges against Rubio. He was >> p 18 MAY 5TH– MAY 11TH, 2022 PHOENIX NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | FEATURE | NEWS | OPINION | FEEDBACK | CONTENTS | phoenixnewtimes.com
