PCSO staff praised for nabbing serial rapist
Pinal County Sheriff’s Office
Paul Babeu
Sheriff
September, 2009
Florence, Ariz. - Much house cleaning has occurred in the Sheriff’s Office since January. Though some
disagree with me, I believe it is imperative that your Sheriff’s Office is transparent.
When government intentionally conceals negative information, it makes citizens suspicious.
When you eventually find out, it harms the perishable trust we hold and must maintain.
It is equally important to publicly celebrate the accomplishments of our Sheriff’s
Office and employees. There is one ongoing serial rape and kidnapping case, where
I’d like to showcase the professionalism, dedication and discipline of our staff.
Elieel Obed Beltran-Rabago, an illegal immigrant from Mexico was arrested on suspicion
of three counts of sexual assault, armed robbery and kidnapping. He reportedly kidnapped
his victims in Mesa and transported them to Pinal County, where he committed armed
robbery and rape. Beltran-Robago is now being held in our PCSO Adult Detention Center.
Congratulations to Sgt. Ruben Leos, Det. Jeff Pizzi (lead investigator) and Det.
Lisa Swinton in this recent serial rape investigation. Their three-day investigation
was a multi-agency effort involving Maricopa PD, DPS, Gila River and Mesa. It resulted
in the arrest, positive identification and confession of Suspect Beltran-Rabago.
Crime Scene Technician Larry Carpenter processed the scene in the desert for this
case and Lanie Bethka processed the two search warrant scenes -- the suspect's home
and the suspect's vehicle. Due to the seriousness of the crimes with countless victims,
we needed additional support to identify and track down the suspect. Our homicide
and property crimes detectives assisted in this investigation. Sgt. Hausman, Cpl.
Barton and Detectives Johnson, Rankin, Pacheco, Hinojos, Rushing, and Pile also
assisted.
On July 30th Det. Swinton testified in grand jury, where Beltran-Rabago was indicted
on a total of 14 counts. Special thanks to the full support and cooperation by County
Attorney Jim Walsh, Chief Criminal Prosecutor Richard Platt and their team of prosecutors.
They worked cooperatively with the Maricopa County Attorney's Office and Mesa Prosecutor’s
Office. Mr. Walsh has agreed that his office will take the lead in the criminal
prosecution.
I'm very proud of Sgt. Leos, Det. Pizzi, Det. Swinton and every investigator/officer
and agency involved. Together, they have built an excellent investigation and apprehended
a suspected violent sex offender and thereby protected our Pinal County. Well done!
I taped a video specifically for PCSO staff, where I express my appreciation for
key staff. The video provides many updates, reasons for sweeping reforms and outline
for the future direction of the Sheriff's Office. You can watch the video on my
website
www.sheriffpaul.com and click on the red video button. This video will provide
you an inside view on the dynamic changes occurring within PCSO. All reforms are
intended to improve operations, service and designed to keep our Pinal families
safe.
Respectfully,
Paul R. Babeu, Sheriff
Pinal County, Arizona
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