Phoenix arson investigators named in civil-rights lawsuit
A 44-year-old man has filed a lawsuit against Phoenix alleging that Fire Department investigators violated his constitutional and civil rights in 2009 when he was indicted on suspicion of arson.
Carl Vincent Ball Caples, who now lives in Illinois, spent more than 14 months in a Maricopa County jail awaiting trial for allegedly setting fire to a home he shared with two other men near 19th Avenue and Union Hills Drive, according to the lawsuit. An arson expert hired by his then-defense attorney determined the blaze was an unintentional electrical fire.
Prosecutors dismissed the case against Caples the day his trial was set to begin.
His suit, filed Wednesday in Maricopa County Superior Court, alleges that the city failed to hire properly trained investigators, did not provide them with additional training and allowed them to use discredited investigation techniques. The suit also alleges that fire investigators approached investigations with a "preconceived idea of whether a fire was arson." Caples' attorneys demanded that damage amounts be determined in a jury trial.
Phoenix spokeswoman Stephanie Romero could not immediately comment on the suit because she didn't know whether the City Attorney's Office had had time to review it.
The lawsuit also names former Phoenix Fire Chief Robert Khan, former Fire Marshal Jack Ballentine, and Capts. Sam Richardson, Fred Andes and William Nelson.
The lawsuit is the latest development involving Richardson, Andes and Ballentine, the subjects of an administrative investigation for a separate arson case.
Richardson was the lead investigator into the May 7, 2009, blaze at Caples' home, court documents say. The suit claims that he spoke with one firefighter and one witness before deciding the fire was an arson, did not investigate the possibility the fire was electrical and failed to follow up on a pawnshop receipt that would have provided Caples with an alibi.
Andes reported to Richardson that his fire-accelerant-detecting dog, Sadie, alerted officials to three areas on the home's back patio, according to the suit. Lab analysis of samples taken from those areas were inconclusive.
Nelson later testified before a grand jury that indicted Caples, saying that Richardson did check Caples' alibi and that the dog was was more accurate than the lab, the suit said.
County Attorney Bill Montgomery declined last month to prosecute Richardson or Andes on felony charges of false swearing following an Arizona Department of Public Safety investigation into their actions on another May 2009 arson investigation, this one at a home near 40th Street and Campbell Avenue.
Police arrested that homeowner after Richardson and Andes accused her of intentionally setting the fire. The County Attorney's Office dismissed the case because there was no evidence tying the homeowner to the blaze, according to the recent DPS investigation. Ballentine supervised the men at the time of both fires, although no charges were recommended against him.
Montgomery publicly questioned Richardson's and Andes' competence and credibility last month, announcing that he would not prosecute any future cases they investigated. A review of about 30 past and pending cases the men worked is ongoing, said Jerry Cobb, a county attorney spokesman.
The Fire Department placed Ballentine, Richardson and Andes on administrative leave with full pay and benefits immediately after the release of the DPS investigation. They have since returned to work and were reassigned to other divisions pending the outcome of the administrative investigation. The department is no longer using Sadie for arson investigations.
Wendy Halloran, a 12 News investigative reporter, contributed to this article.