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Pinal County attorney details three-year review of prosecuted cases, flags Walmart area as hotspot
Summary
Pinal County's attorney presented a three-year review of prosecutions (2023'2025) to the Apache Junction council, reporting overall increases in prosecuted cases, a rise in felonies to roughly 81% of prosecutions, and 31 cases clustered at the city's Walmart property; he offered to provide additional breakdowns on immigration and homelessness links.
Pinal County Attorney Brad Miller told the Apache Junction City Council on July 7 that his office reviewed more than 2,020 prosecuted cases from 2023 through 2025 and that total criminal cases rose from 641 in 2023 to 732 in 2025.
Miller said felonies now make up about 81% of prosecuted cases and that several categories grew markedly: weapons and explosive offenses increased roughly 77% (from 13 to 23 cases), driving-under-the-influence cases rose about 76% (to 44 in 2025), and family offenses more than doubled (up 131%, from 13 to 30 cases). He told the council drug offenses remain the single largest category by count but that their share of total prosecutions dropped from 32.5% to 25.1% over the period.
Miller identified a recurring geographic hotspot: the council's local Walmart had 31 prosecuted cases across the three-year period and ranked highest among city locations each year. He said the dataset reflects cases his office actually prosecuted (not every police call) and cautioned that some matters, especially those involving federal jurisdiction, are handled by federal authorities and therefore do not appear in his office's counts.
Council members asked for demographic and circumstance breakdowns, including the role of immigration status and possible correlations with homelessness and juvenile offending. Miller said he did not have immediate breakdowns by immigration status or by homelessness indicators in the dataset but offered to provide more granular data on request and said a new data analysis system would help produce those reports.
Miller described changes in prosecution and plea policies since he took office that, he said, contributed to increases in higher-impact prosecutions and emphasized interagency coordination with the local police department, the sheriff's office and federal partners. He closed by recommending focused enforcement in identified corridors and continued investment in prevention and intervention for repeat locations and at-risk youth.
The council received Miller's presentation, followed by several questions; he committed to sharing the underlying maps and an Excel dataset for all three years.
What happens next: Miller said he will provide requested breakdowns and the county's downloadable maps and spreadsheets to the city.
