Resident alleges unlawful records deletions, urges immediate halt and external investigation
Loading...
Summary
A mother who says her daughter's rape-case evidence was deleted told council the town has been auto-deleting records and demanded an external investigation and that deletions stop immediately. She tied the deletions to other unresolved cases and criticized a council member's social-media comment about her residency.
A Gilbert resident told the Town Council on Oct. 28 that the town clerk had ordered deletion of records tied to her daughter's sexual-assault investigation and demanded that all automatic deletions stop and that an independent external investigation be launched.
Carissa Arnold identified herself as the mother of a 16-year-old who was raped and said materials related to the case were deleted after what she described as a town-clerk-ordered deletion policy. "Gilbert destroyed any possibility of justice for my daughter," Arnold said, and accused the council and town staff of concealing errors. She said some recordings were produced only after she previously spoke to the council and that several recordings remain missing. "Records are being automatically deleted as we speak," she said.
Arnold also criticized a social-media statement by Council member Chuck Bongiovanni, saying he "believes that my voice doesn't matter because I now live in Mesa." She said that although she recently moved to Mesa, her daughter's case and the town's investigation occurred in Gilbert and that deletions affect justice in Gilbert cases broadly.
In her remarks Arnold named multiple high-profile, unresolved cases and said she suspects broader problems with how the town stores and deletes records, including records related to water and wastewater issues. "I am demanding that all records deletions stop immediately and that an external investigation be launched into the potential corruption and cover it," she said.
Council response: Council did not take immediate action at the meeting to stop deletions or open an independent investigation. Officials noted that public comment is not answered during the meeting; council members later acknowledged the concerns and said staff would be contacted to follow up.
Next steps: Arnold requested an immediate halt to deletions and an external inquiry. The council did not vote to suspend any deletion policy at the Oct. 28 meeting.
