PHOENIX - May 31, 2013, will forever be painfully etched in the lives of the Robles family. That night the family patriarch, Ibrahin Robles Sr., was covering a shift at the Valero gas station in Mesa where his son Ibrahin Jr. was the manager. The clerk had called in sick and being the always-willing father he was, he agreed to help his son out. That would turn out to be a deadly decision Robles Jr., says he will grapple with for the rest of his life.
At 10:12 p.m. Keishaun Green walked into the store and shot Robles Sr., in the abdomen, ultimately killing him. While Green was convicted of Robles' murder in late February and recently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the Robles family was mortified when they found out Tempe Police and Maricopa County Adult Probation squandered several opportunities to arrest Green before he gunned down their loved one. This would turn out to be among the things listed as the basis for a notice of claim served on the City of Tempe and Maricopa County on Tuesday alleging wrongful death, shoddy internal affairs investigations and a cover-up.
Attorney Stephen Benedetto lodged the claim on behalf of Robles Sr., widow Delia, daughter Marilu Robles and son Ibrahin Jr.
The claim, a precursor to a lawsuit seeks $3 million and alleges multiple internal affairs investigations at the City of Tempe were shoddily conducted and there were attempts to cover it up.
READ: The Notice of Claim
"This case is not a case that left police disheartened at the senseless loss of life, knowing that nothing could have been done to avoid it. It is not a situation that inspired sadness and reflection on a broken society. And the law enforcement response to this situation was not a reflection. Quite the opposite. This was a situation where the exercise of anything resembling competence by either of two different Arizona law enforcement agencies would have prevented a tragedy. And the response of law enforcement was not reflection: it was cover-up."
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The claim alleges that Tempe Police Detective Charles Pheanis -- who was transitioning into the homicide unit at the time -- did not take concrete steps to move the investigation on Keishaun Green forward, that he did not seek charges against Green for the burglary or assault Green allegedly committed against his girlfriend -- Holly Caudell -- and his uncle Alvin, that Pheanis did not seek a search warrant or inform Green's probation officer Jeffrey Ballinger and he did not complete his police report. And all ignored the alarm bells set off by Green's uncle Alvin.
When Alvin informed Pheanis he was willing to assist in the prosecution in the assault and says he told Pheanis his nephew is the one who committed the burglary in which a gun was stolen, Pheanis directed Alvin to call the non-emergency number.
On May 16, 2013, Alvin again tried to sound the alarm. He emailed Green's probation officer, Jeffrey Ballinger, and attached a photo of his nephew with the stolen gun that his nephew had posted on Instagram.
By the time Alvin called the Tempe PD non-emergency number it was June 5, 2013. Robles Sr. was shot to death on May 31. Even then, Officer Pam Morris failed to mention in her report Alvin told her his nephew, who was on probation and a prohibited possessor, had the stolen gun. Morris would later admit to internal affairs investigators that she'd, "totally screwed up on this."
Ten days later, on June 15, 2013, Green murdered Darwin Banks at his Mesa home. Banks, Green's marijuana dealer, survived long enough to give Mesa Police a description of his killer.
Green was caught in the vicinity along with his 15-year-old cousin by Mesa Police with the same gun that was traced to the murder of Ibrahin Robles Sr. -- it was the same gun that was stolen from Alvin's safe box.
After a jury convicted Green for the murder of Robles Sr., he took a plea deal offered by prosecutors and pleaded guilty to the murder of Banks.
The claim further states, "There is no question that the City and County were reckless in ignoring the multiple warnings by Alvin and undertaking no effort to bring a dangerous, violent fugitive to justice." It goes on to to say that the City and County were aware Green was on probation and a prohibited possessor of a firearm and no warrant was required to search his home. This failure, the claim states, "was not mere negligence: it was reckless."
It also states that the public records were extremely sparing and largely under wraps. We discovered during the course of our 12 News investigation that the internal affairs investigation conducted by the Tempe Police Department makes no mention of the two murders or how the internal affairs investigation was initiated. One police expert who reviewed the documentation in this case, concluded that they were trying to fly under the radar and that the two murders were definitely the elephant in the room.
Det. Charles Pheanis and Officer Pam Morris were investigated for possible Violation of Work Ethics. The allegations focused on whether Morris and Pheanis failed to "properly complete an investigation and make the necessary reports." The allegation against Pheanis was determined to be unfounded, while the allegation against Morris was sustained. Morris has since retired from the force while Pheanis was promoted to homicide detective.
Tempe PD spokesperson Molly Enright acknowledged to 12 News that the City had been served with the claim but in an email said, "It is our practice not to comment regarding potential/pending litigation."
We have not yet heard back from Maricopa County Adult Probation for a comment or from Green's probation officer Jeffrey Ballinger who no longer works there.