A Sierra Vista man who posted a $100,000 bond last year to get out of jail while awaiting trial for child molestation and sexual assault of a minor is in the Maricopa County jail in advance of a hearing next week on charges that he stabbed three people at a Chandler mall in March.
Andrew Ryan Courtney was arrested in Sierra Vista last month by detectives from Chandler Police Department on four counts of felony aggravated assault he is accused of committing March 12 at the Chandler Fashion Center. He has been denied bail by a Maricopa County judge who cited the nature of the new charges and the fact Courtney was already awaiting trial in the 2020 molestation case.
Courtney, 24, is scheduled for a pretrial hearing in Maricopa County Superior Court on May 26. A trial date will be announced this summer. Once that hearing is done, Courtney is named in a writ which demands his transfer back to the Cochise County jail for a June 14 hearing about moving his molestation case forward to trial.
According to a spokesman for Chandler PD, two groups of men had an exchange of words around 5:30 p.m. on March 12 on the lower level of the mall. The words turned into a physical altercation during which victims said a white male stabbed three members of the other group with what Sgt. Jason McClimans described as a folding-style knife.
None of the injuries were life-threatening, according to McClimans, but no further details have been released. Identifying the man with the knife was made easier by surveillance video recorded throughout the mall. One closeup image shows a man wearing distinctive clothing and shoes minutes before the attack. Investigators say Courtney was that man.
The final aggravated assault charge stems from allegations Courtney used the same knife he stabbed the three men with to place a fourth man in reasonable apprehension of imminent physical injury.
In an odd coincidence, Courtney’s attorney on the 2020 molestation charges was advised by the Cochise County Superior Court on March 31 that a settlement conference had been scheduled in an attempt to resolve the case without a trial. On that same day, a warrant was issued for Courtney’s arrest in connection to the Chandler assaults.
In the Cochise County case, Courtney was arrested in July 2020 after the mother of a 14-year-old girl found him in her apartment, hiding in the girl’s closet. He reportedly ran out of the residence wearing only the girl’s underwear and one shoe, and left his car in the parking lot.
Police seized at least one item belonging to the girl from the car. In addition, messages, images, and videos on the girl’s phone suggested an unlawful romantic relationship between the two, according to a probable cause statement filed at the time of Courtney’s arrest.
A Cochise County grand jury later indicted Courtney on three Class 2 felonies related to sexual misconduct; two of the counts fall under Arizona’s dangerous crimes against children law. Other court records show Courtney was originally denied bail while awaiting trial but in September 2020 defense attorney Perry Hicks and the prosecutor stipulated to pretrial release if a $100,000 bond was posted.
The bond was recorded with the court the next month and Courtney was released to await trial.
Other court records in Cochise County show Courtney pleaded guilty in 2017 to a low level drug paraphernalia charge as part of a plea deal. Then in May 2018 he was placed on three years of probation in another drug case resolved by a plea deal.
However, his probation was revoked after his July 2020 arrest in the molestation case. He had also failed to obtain his GED as required by his probation officer. Courtney was later sentenced in the 2018 drug case to 90 days in jail with credit for 90 days already served, and the case was closed. Courtney also has a conviction in a 2017 drug paraphernalia case.