Last week I got a notice from the City of Phoenix Police Department that I have a new neighbor. Arthur Sandoval Diaz is moving into an apartment a block from my building. How very nice of them to keep me up to date on my neighborhood comings and goings. Oh yeah....Mr. Diaz is a convicted sex offender. A class 3 offender which means that there is "mandatory community notification" when he is being released from state prison. Class 1 is apparently not such a big deal in the convicted sex offender world but class 3 is trouble. The notice has a picture of Mr. Diaz. He's smiling. Pretty much grinning. I can't believe that was his booking photo. Maybe they used his driver's license photo. I'm going to pretend that he wasn't smiling as they were booking him on these charges.
The Phoenix police wanted me to know that he "forced his way into a female acquaintance's apartment and attempted to sexually assault her. A knife was used during the commission of this offense." Thank you Phoenix police. This may be on the verge of too much information (because I'm a little scared now). I showed this notice to one of my colleagues and she said, "if it was a female acquaintance, it was probably just a case of 'he said, she said' and you shouldn't have anything to worry about." WHAT?!? Am I actually hearing this? If you are acquainted with someone who pulls a knife on you and tries to sexually assault you, it must be the woman's fault. Have we really not progressed past this? Aarggghhhh. I was then told that I shouldn't judge the guy. Sorry. I'm judging him. In fact, I will profile him (given the chance) and cross the street to avoid him.
The notice tells me that he has black hair but Mr. Diaz is bald in his smiling picture. I don't know what good that hair color thing is going to do me. So....I'm essentially looking out for a 5'5" hispanic guy that is about 40 years old. That's almost everyone in my neighborhood.
I miss Tucson.
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