This investigative report originally aired on March 13, 2013
Last month our investigation called Raked Over the Coals drew the ire of many viewers.
We exposed how Phoenix Fire Department arson investigator Captain Sam Richardson arrested a woman for burning down her home.
It cost her nearly $300,000 to clear her name.
The case and three other cases Richardson investigated were dismissed by the Maricopa County Attorney's Office in the interests of justice.
Now, Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton is throwing his support behind a study praising the department for its work.
The case against Barbara Sloan was dismissed after Captain Sam Richardson was questioned and created reasonable doubt. He admitted he arrested Barbara Sloan solely because she was the homeowner and he had no evidence tying her to the fire. We were never able to get any of our questions answered by the fire department of Mayor Greg Stanton but today I got my chance, ironically the fire chief slipped out even though he's got a fire of his own to extinguish.
Captain Sam Richardson shot a video provided to 12 News through a public records request while investigating the fire at Barbara Sloan's home.
The arson dog isn't detecting accelerants. Captain Fred Andes seems frustrated.
"Seek, seek, no, no you got to put your nose down, at least fake it for me, okay?" Andes said to the dog.
After that comment Sadie hit on three spots. But two crime labs concluded the samples were negative for accelerants. Independent arson investigators and Andes and Richardson's own colleagues at the fire department concluded the fire started in a car parked in the garage. Captain Richardson never bothered to investigate the garage or the car fire. The case against Barbara Sloan was ultimately dismissed.
"I believe he walked in with a very biased opinion, and because he had a biased opinion he failed to do his job and he didn't want to look at the truth," said Barbara Sloan.
So today we tried to speak with Phoenix Fire Chief Bob Khan about the conduct of his arson investigators during a press conference where he was touting his department but he abruptly left as Mayor Greg Stanton was speaking at the podium.
"I know Chief Khan had to sneak out of here, real quick, he'll only be here for a minute," Mayor Stanton told the crowd as Khan walked away. The Phoenix Fire Chief doesn't want to talk about it and neither did city officials until today when Mayor Stanton was confronted about the 12 News investigation. We wanted to find out if the city is going to take any action following our reporting into the matter.
Investigative Reporter Wendy Halloran asked Mayor Stanton, "How do you justify the use of the arson dog telling the arson dog to put her nose down and fake it?" Mayor Stanton replied, "I'm not going to comment on the investigation other than as I said, every piece of information that we've got has been passed onto the appropriate people in the City of Phoenix."
Halloran then asked Mayor Stanton what the city was going to do about this matter. "As I said, every piece of information that you have provided and others have provided from the community I have passed on to the appropriate people in the city to do the appropriate, look into this information. Mayor Stanton concluded by complimenting our 12 News investigation. "I appreciate the good reporting that you're doing."
We are going to continue to press for answers as there are other cases in which people have been accused of arson and arrested only to have the cases dismissed by the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.
