Date of Offense
Reporting Authority
Supporting Document(s)
Statement
I, Cherrisse Ellevamae Lee Henderson, declare under penalty of perjury that the following is true and correct to the best of my knowledge: I. Background I am the subject of a criminal case in which the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (MCAO) filed a misdemeanor charge of A.R.S. §13-2402(A)(1): Obstructing Government Operations - Public Servant. This charge is directly tied to a broader situation involving my ongoing efforts to obtain accountability from the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office (MCMEO) regarding serious forensic misconduct in the handling of my sister’s death in 2000. At the time of the refiled charge, I had an active internal affairs investigation open with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) Professional Standards Bureau concerning misconduct by a detective involved in my original incident. II. Timeline of Events February 10, 2025: The MCSO submitted my incident report to the MCAO. February 19, 2025: I was notified via phone by Investigator Plummer (then assigned to my case) that the case was dismissed, and no charges were being filed. I have a record of that call. February 24, 2025: I contacted the Office of the Medical Examiner (OME) via email. This contact was within my legal rights and was made after the case had already been dismissed. That email included Deputy Chief Bridget Eutenier and NAME President Reade Quinton, MD. February 25, 2025 (10:53 AM): Investigator Plummer called me again and told me that prosecutor Neha Bhatia had suddenly decided to reopen the case and refile it as a misdemeanor based on “new information.” Sometime after February 25, 2025: I received a court document indicating that the State of Arizona is the plaintiff, and the complainant listed was Kevin Hastings, badge #S2036, from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. III. Misconduct and Irregularities Kevin Hastings was not involved in my case. He was not the officer who interviewed me. He was not the responding officer or author of the original incident report. He is not listed anywhere in the official documentation I obtained, nor did he supervise the officer who handled my case. I confirmed this with my current internal affairs investigator at the MCSO, during a phone call recorded on April 6, 2025. In this recording, he says: “I don’t know how you got his name, that’s why I’m confused, and I looked at the incident report that I can look up and I did not see Kevin Hastings’ name.” This proves Kevin Hastings had no direct or documented connection to the incident and was not a legitimate or factual complainant. His inclusion in the MCAO filing represents a fabricated or substituted complainant. The same prosecutor, Neha Bhatia, who signed the new complaint and listed Kevin Hastings, is the same individual who previously dismissed the case on February 19, 2025. She never disclosed the “new information” she allegedly received. The only intervening event was my protected communication with the OME. IV. Violations and Retaliatory Behavior The re-filing of this charge directly followed my contact with the OME, a protected action, and appears retaliatory. The filing of a complaint using a false complainant (Kevin Hastings) raises serious concerns of: Abuse of process Prosecutorial misconduct Obstruction of justice Retaliation for protected activity Violation of internal policy, given my active internal affairs case with MCSO I was never arrested or indicted and was released under conditions typically assigned for pretrial status, not post-conviction. I was told I was not to contact the MCSO or witnesses, and that I may return to the “scene” once with a civil standby, despite no formal detainment or conviction. V. Request for Accountability This declaration is intended for submission to: The Arizona State Bar, regarding the conduct of Deputy County Attorney Neha Bhatia (Bar ID #025366) The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Professional Standards Bureau, to be included as part of my active IA case The Arizona Attorney General’s Office or other appropriate legal authorities Civil rights and government accountability organizations, as well as media entities currently reviewing my case VI. Statement I am providing this information in good faith to document a pattern of retaliatory and procedurally improper conduct by the MCSO and MCAO. I reserve all rights to take further action, including civil litigation and public advocacy. Signed, Cherrisse Ellevamae Lee Henderson I have provided copies of my IR report with the MCSO when Detective Kevin Tyrrel interview with Yvonne from the ombudsman’s office she’s the person that I’ve made my comment to. I provided the documents about what Yvonne said versus what Kevin Hastings said and Neha Bhatia signed off on it, knowing that Kevin Hastings was lying under oath.
