Former Marana Broncos youth football President Steve Leslie Marshall Jr. will be arraigned on eight felony charges tomorrow afternoon.

Following a 16-month investigation by the Oro Valley Police Department and picked up by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, Marshall is accused of embezzling more than $54,000 from the nonprofit youth sports organization.

The investigation into Marshall centers around the use of an account linked to the Broncos organization to cover various personal expenses for Marshall and his family.

Marshall, an Oro Valley resident who did not immediately respond to messages from Tucson Local Media, resigned as president of the organization during its annual board meeting to decide its leadership last March.

According to OVPD reports related to the investigation, current Broncos President Juliette Gutierrez went to Canyon Community Bank to gain access to the organization’s account after Marshall resigned, only to find that Marshall was the only active person on the account.
That information evidently came as a surprise, given that organization by-laws require all financial transactions be approved with two signatures.

Board members found out that Marshall had closed the Broncos’ account on March 6, 2017, opening a new one to place, as the report states, “a couple thousand dollars of the organization’s funds into said account.”

Board members asked Oro Valley police to investigate Marshall in May 2017 after they discovered that Marshall had opened a debit card linked to the organization’s bank account, which was also in clear violation of their by-laws.

According to the investigation, some of the items Marshall is accused of using organizational funds on include more than $850 in repairs to a personal vehicle, as well as charges for rental cars, rent payments, dental work and hotel rooms.

A board member told the investigating officer at that time that she believed Marshall had knowingly under-reported earnings for the Broncos and provided false information to the Internal Revenue Service.

The OVPD investigation references a breakdown of the Broncos’ finances, stating that the organization raised funds through summer football camps, as well as registration fees for the club’s cheerleading and football squads.

Multiple interviewees told police they had no idea that Marshall was using the organization’s funds in an improper fashion, as he never told them anything about the charges or opening a debit card and cashing checks linked to the Broncos.

According to a police report, a former Broncos general manager told the investigating officer that she thought Marshall was improperly moving money between teams, going so far as to question him on why he was using money to take teams to Florida for a national youth sports championship game.

The same person told an officer she initially joined the Broncos board when Marshall became president in 2009 because she “didn’t want Marshall on the board without someone watching him.”

Gutierrez reported the club generated $52,500 from camps and registration fees on average between 2014 and 2017, starting each season with $56,000 deposited into its bank account.
The organization also raised funds through an in-season cash raffle, which cost $10 per ticket, with 4,500 tickets distributed, raising an additional $45,000 for the league.

In total, the Broncos organization raised $106,500 in 2015, with expenses totaling at $57,732.
Tucson Youth Football and Spirit Federation Commissioner Julius Holt and Gutierrez met with concerned parents Wednesday night at Arthur Pack Park, addressing a crowd of more than 50 about several subjects.

One such topic was how the federation’s members file their taxes, with Holt assuring the crowd that steps have been taken to ensure that each club reports its taxes through the same accountant, so there are no discrepancies.

The OVPD investigation cited multiple Broncos board members and Gutierrez as not knowing exactly where the organization’s excess funds go, with Gutierrez telling the officer that their CPA would file taxes for the non-profit organization, with the CPA giving the teams’ financial numbers to whoever the club president was at the time.

Outside of the Broncos organization, Marshall is known in Oro Valley for his work as a volunteer assistant coach for the Canyon del Oro High School football team from 2015 to 2017.
He also previously operated a 7-on-7 football team, known as Team 520, which disbanded in 2018.

Marshall was indicted on Sept. 13 in Pima County Superior Court with eight felony charges, including fraudulent schemes, forgery and theft.

TYFSF and the Arizona Attorney General’s Office declined comment for this story, the latter explaining that the case is an “ongoing matter.”

Starting Oct. 4, the Tucson Humanities Festival will continue throughout the whole month of October. Events will be held all over Tucson including some events at the UA.

From professors, feminists, award-winning authors and many more, the Tucson Humanities Festival will provide a diverse group of guest speakers to present at this years event. The events throughout the month of October will consist of film screenings, readings, and thought-provoking lectures, according to UA News.

With its overarching theme being "secrets", it will pull participants in by forcing themselves to ask questions. Luckily for them, the intuitive events throughout the month will answer and explain the questions attendees may have. Secrets in others lives continue to be assets to their culture, beliefs and relationships. The continuous discussions will provide thoughts and insight to the reasoning behinds people's secret-filled lives.

Between faculty research and expertise on freedom, artistic expression, religion and diplomacy it is intended to create an open dialogue between UA and the Tucson community, according to UA News. The festival is held in honor of National Arts and Humanities month in the form of a local celebration. All events throughout the festival will be free to the public.

For more information click here.

Tucson Humanities Festival Schedule:

The 43rd annual Tucson Greek Festival will take place from Sept. 27 to Sept. 30 at St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church. The event is a celebration of Greek faith and culture and raises funds for ministries of St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church.

There will be authentic Greek food and pastries, a live Greek band with a DJ and dancers performing, assorted wine and beer and lots of family friendly activities.

The event will take place on Thursday from 5 to 10 p.m., Friday from 5-11 p.m., Saturday from 4-11 p.m. and Sunday from 12-5 p.m. $3 general admission. Admission will be free for Seniors, first responders, military and children 12 and under. Students with an ID will be free on Thursday. Come and get your Greek on for a few days!

20 Must-Try Classic Greek Dishes

1. Moussaka: oven-baked casserole of layered eggplant and spiced meat
2. Baklava: Greek pastry made with flaky phyllo dough layered with a cinnamon-spiced nut filling and bathed in sweet syrup
3. Horta Vrasta: boiled leafy greens
4. Chicken Soup Avgolemono: a traditional chicken soup
5. Tzatziki: creamy cucumber- yogurt dip flavored with garlic
6. Pastitsio: made with pasta, meat filling and a creamy bechamel sauce
7. Galaktoboureko: custard phyllo pie
8. Fassolatha: classic white bean soup
9. Spanakopita: spinach pie
10. Youvetsi: beef stew with orzo
11. Dolmathakia: stuffed grape leaves stuffed with rice, pine nuts and fresh herbs
12. Taramosalata: carp roe spread
13. Fassolakia Lathera: green beans in tomato sauce
14. Melomakarona: honey walnut cookies
15. Pork Souvlaki: grilled pork skewers
16. Domates Yemistes: stuffed tomatoes with meat and rice
17. Tsoureki: Easter bread flavored with orange and Mahlab
18. Keftethes: meatballs
19. Kourabiethes: almond shortbread cookies
20. Tiropites: phyllo cheese triangles

Find more Claytoonz here.

Finding Near Earth Asteroids with the Catalina Sky Survey. The Summerhaven Speaker Series continues with this talk by Eric Christensen, principal investigator of the Catalina Sky Survey. Asteroid impacts have shaped the course of life on Earth as we know it, and they still regularly occur in our solar system. NASA has given CSS the mission of detecting and tracking near-Earth asteroids, and CSS has really done its job: They’ve found more potentially hazardous asteroids by looking up at the sky on Mount Lemmon than any other survey program in the world. Christensen will talk about how asteroids are discovered, how frequently they impact Earth and what we can do to predict—and even prevent—future asteroid impacts. 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27. Summerhaven Community Center on Mount Lemmon. Details Here.

Amos Lee writes gentle folk without lumbering into bland dad rock. Though his electric acoustic and tinkling piano accompaniment often say Nora Jones, Lee sidesteps the dull by blending truthful grit and dark shades into his love-lorn ditties. (Dude may feel “at home in a woman’s arms” but he spends “most days alone.”) It’s this willingness to be vulnerable, this embrace of authentic melancholy, which sets Amos Lee apart from Pop/R&B adult contemporaries like Jack Johnson or John Legend. He’s a modern-day James Taylor; that weightiness in song and deep, personal connection to his lyrics. More, the Philly-weaned Lee has recorded in and long been inspired by the Old Pueblo and musical pals Calexico. Note that Lee is playing his most recent release, My New Moon, in its entirety. So one never knows who might show up to sit in. Thursday, September 27 at the Fox Theatre, 17 W. Congress. Doors at 8 p.m. $27-$60. All ages. Details Here.

43rd Annual Tucson Greek Festival The Tucson Greek Festival returns! They’ll have all the homemade pastries, artisan jewelry, food vendors and dancing you can handle. Even if you aren’t sure what saganaki is, it sure sounds good doesn’t it? More than just the food and festivities, this is a chance to learn about Greek culture, and proceeds help raise funds for the various ministries of St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church right here in Tucson. Opa! Thursday, Sept. 27 to Sunday, Sept. 30. 1145 E. Fort Lowell Road. Details Here.

Fall Pumpkin Celebration. If you can’t believe it’s already pumpkin season, you’ll have no choice but to believe it once you spend a day in the pumpkin patch at Apple Annie’s enjoying all-you-can-eat pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin pies, pumpkin bread and homemade cider donuts. If you’re more of a “grab it and go” person than a “frolic through the pumpkin patch” person, then you can just pick a pumpkin out of the produce barn or at the pumpkin stand. And be sure to check out Arizona’s largest corn maze! Starting this weekend, every Saturday and Sunday through Oct. 28. The foodstuffs are at the orchard location, 2081 W. Hardy Road, open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. during September and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. during October. Pumpkin picking is at the pumpkin patch, 6405 W. Williams Road, open 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. during September and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. during October. Free admission, pumpkins priced by weight. Details Here. 

Send Us Your Photos:

If you go to any of the events listed above, snap a quick pic and tag us for a chance to be featured on our social media sites! Find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @tucsonweekly.


Events compiled by Brianna Lewis, Emily Dieckman, B.S. Eliot, Ava Garcia and Jeff Gardner.

Film Fest Tucson is back for its third year with more movies, more viewing locations and more features than ever before.

“The main difference this year is that we’re a lot bigger.” said Herb Stratford, director of the event. “Instead of just being at one location, we’re at three locations.”

Film Fest Tucson will show their films on Oct. 12 and 13 at the Historic Scottish Rite Cathedral, the Fox Tucson Theatre and the AC Marriott Hotel, with the latter two being new venues. There will also be four free outdoor screening options nearby.


The event website describes the festival as a “destination festival, a place for filmmakers and audiences to meet, discover and experience unique and important stories told on film.”

This year includes 38 films screenings with 26 being features, and 12 being shorts. This is an upgrade from the previous year where there were only 27 films.

“Sometimes it’s really hard to take the films that you want to show and cut them down to the number of slots,” Stratford said. “So, we wanted to make sure that we had enough locations to show all of the great films that we had.”

Stratford is also a film critic and is the centerpiece in choosing which films feature in the festival.

“I do the first pass,” he said. “And then I have a committee that I share those films with before we pick what is going to be shown. It’s kind of a group effort.”

The film festival will also include a tribute event for the first time where they will highlight the work of three women in film. They will do this by showing clips of their work and have conversations with the women about their work. This year’s special guests include Catherine Hardwicke, Haley Lu Richardson and Sophia Mitri Schloss.

The event does not carry a special theme in terms of content, but Stratford believes that there is rather an overarching theme.

“We are all about collaboration and sharing audiences and shining the light on other fellow non-profit arts organizations here in town,” he said.

Every year Film Fest Tucson collaborates with six to ten local arts and cultural institutions in town to help with films. Stratford expects the festival to keep expanding over the years.

“We are growing a festival that will take over downtown eventually, so our idea is that we’ll eventually be in even more venues,” he said. “We just have to grow it at a sustainable pace.”

Tickets start at $10 for individual shows and Stratford hopes that despite it being a busy weekend, people will come and have fun.

“If you look at the program, I think people will find something they are interested in and we just hope that everybody will join us,” he said.

For more information, visit filmfesttucson.com

Amos Lee writes gentle folk without lumbering into bland dad rock. Though his electric acoustic and tinkling piano accompaniment often say Nora Jones, Lee sidesteps the dull by blending truthful grit and dark shades into his love-lorn ditties. (Dude may feel “at home in a woman’s arms” but he spends “most days alone.”) It’s this willingness to be vulnerable, this embrace of authentic melancholy, which sets Amos Lee apart from Pop/R&B adult contemporaries like Jack Johnson or John Legend. He’s a modern-day James Taylor; that weightiness in song and deep, personal connection to his lyrics. More, the Philly-weaned Lee has recorded in and long been inspired by the Old Pueblo and musical pals Calexico. Note that Lee is playing his most recent release, My New Moon, in its entirety. So one never knows who might show up to sit in. Thursday, September 27 at the Fox Theatre, 17 West Congress. Doors at 8 p.m. $27-$60. All ages.

The Loft Cinema will be showing the movie Moonrise Kingdom, a movie set in the summer of 1965 about a young love between characters Sam and Suzy who decide to run away together. Directed by Wes Anderson, the film features actors like Bruce Willis, Edward Norton and Bill Murray.

The showing dates are Friday, Sept. 28 and Saturday, Sept. 29 from 10 p.m. to 11:45 p.m. The Loft Cinema is located on 3233 E. Speedway Blvd. Tickets for general admission will be $6 and Loft Members admission is $5.

Find more details here.

A quartet of Arizona football players took turns spitting out idioms and soundbites at the team's weekly media availability within the glass walls of the Lowell-Stevens Football complex on Tuesday afternoon.

The players—including defensive lineman PJ Johnson, linebacker Tony Fields II, tackle Bryson Cain and receiver Shawn Poindexter—addressed a barrage of questions.

Johnson discussed everything from his bright gold "grills," or gold plates that surround his actual teeth, to more pressing football-related topics, like the defensive line's progress in consecutive wins over Southern Utah and Oregon State.

Fields addressed the linebacking corp's improvements, the progress of fellow sophomore Colin Schooler and where the team is as we near the midway point of the year.

Poindexter, the elder statesman of the group, discussed quarterback Khalil Tate's maturation under center and his ability to use his height and speed to his advantage.

The thread that brought the four Wildcats together was their take on this week's home game against divisional foe, Southern California.

The mighty Trojans of USC are 2-2 this season, the same as the Wildcats, but enter Saturday's 7:30 p.m. clash with the added bonus of having won five straight over Arizona.

The Trojans have dominated Arizona through the years, with a 33-8 lead in the all-time series, with 13 wins in 17 trips to Arizona Stadium.

The ensemble of Arizona players weren't shy in their prognostications about this week's contests, however, expressing confidence in their ability to thwart the Trojans.

Johnson was the first to take to the stage, describing the visiting squad in rather ho-hum fashion.

"I feel like if we take the game as more than just a game that it’ll get over our heads," Johnson said. "So, we’ve just got to treat them the same way we would any other team."

The Wildcats will look to improve upon their last meeting with USC, a year after the Trojans cruised past them, 49-35 in LA to snap the team's four-game win streak.

That loss set in motion a year-end tailspin for Arizona, with the Wildcats losing three of their last four games to end the season.

The Trojans success against Arizona a year ago came largely because of their ability to fluster quarterback Khalil Tate, holding him to 146 passing yards, and a year-low 45.2 percent completion percentage.

Tate did cut up the Trojans on the ground last year, with 161 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries in the loss.

Poindexter, who was held to one catch and 11 yards in last year's contest, believes this year's game will be different, that it provides the Wildcats a shot at making a statement to the rest of the conference.

"I think [winning] would be huge," Poindexter said. "I think we made a good statement win against Oregon State. I think that should speak volumes for itself ... I think beating USC would really establish us and maybe the city will believe in us a little bit more."

Fields, who had a team-high 11 tackles in last year's contest, knows that much has changed in the 11 months since the two teams last met.

The Las Vegas native said the team's defense is prepared to go against USC's freshman quarterback, JT Daniels, a week after the 18-year-old led a come-from-behind win against Washington State.

Fields believes the unit can pounce on Daniels' youth and inexperience this week, forcing him into making bad decisions.

He also believes that a win against the Trojans could be a statement for the team as a whole, as well as first-year coach Kevin Sumlin.

"It'd be a great boost. Not just for the program, but for our fans too," Fields said. "I believe our fans would be all here, they'll be all in. A couple days ago I posted something on Twitter, we need the fans to be here completely out ready to roll."

Sumlin addressed Saturday's contest and what a win would mean to him and his players in his weekly press conference on Monday.

He believes that his team is in fine form on both sides of the ball right now, but knows that the Trojans will test their newfound mettle.

"We’ll see this week because USC is a very talented team, they’ve had their struggles, but they still have a lot of talent across the board," Sumlin said. "They've got a young quarterback (JT Daniels) but he’s talented, a veteran offensive line in front of him, explosive on the perimeter.”

Poindexter summed up the team's viewpoint heading into Saturday's game, describing the contest with a hint of revenge in his voice.

"We want to go into the game and we want to win. We don't just want to win, we want to blow them out," Poindexter said. "We're just going to continue to work every single day and hope for the best on Saturday."

How to Watch: Arizona and USC will kick off at 7:30 p.m. Arizona time on Saturday, with ESPN2 carrying the contest.

Who to Watch: USC is loaded with young offensive talent, including freshman QB JT Daniels, who has 1,060 passing yards and four touchdowns this year. Another name to keep an eye on is freshman receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, who leads the Trojans in receiving yards (342) with 2 touchdowns and 20 receptions this season.

How to Bet: USC is currently a 3.5-point favorite, as of Wednesday morning. The over/under for the contest is at 61.

Who Will Win: Arizona hasn't beaten USC since 2012, when the Wildcats edged them out in Tucson, 39-36. It's hard to see the Trojans losing this week, so I'll go with USC to win, 45-28.