PRESCOTT, AZ — Matt Massucci always thought the case against him was biased.
Despite “false allegations” made by a local deputy fire chief and his family, Massucci and his defense attorneys believed the case was pushed forward by Prescott police because of the chief’s status in the community.
What they didn’t know?
Prescott Det. John Hanna, who handled the case against Massucci, has had a decades-long connection to Central Arizona Fire Deputy Chief Dustin Parra, and the pair has even co-coached their sons in recent years, according to yearbook photos and social media posts.
The Prescott Police Department and Parra did not respond to requests for comment for this report.
But by reviewing Prescott High School yearbooks in the 1990s, ABC15 confirmed that Parra and Hanna attended school at the same time and played football together.
In addition, Facebook photos and online rosters show their sons have also played football together, starting in youth leagues and continuing into high school. A Facebook photo from November 2021 appears to show Parra and Hanna co-coaching their sons' team together.
This year’s Prescott High yearbook also shows Parra as an assistant Varsity and Junior Varsity coach, meaning he coached Det. Hanna's son.
The case against Massuci began on July 16, 2023.
Parra's wife called 911, claiming Massucci had pulled a gun on their family outside a gas station.
Everyone left the scene before police arrived. Acting solely on the family's account, officials arrested Massucci days later and charged him with four felonies, which cumulatively carried decades of prison time.
It would take two years and surveillance video to eventually show it was Parra - intoxicated after his brother's funeral - who followed Massucci to his car and confronted him. That's when Massucci says he pulled a gun from his center console.
"What's more likely? I became, for no apparent reason, verbally aggressive and presented a handgun and threatened them? Or this drunk man on a very emotional day in his life, chose to pick a fight with someone," Massucci told ABC15 in a previous interview. "It's pretty simple to see. But they didn't want to see that."
Parra directly called Hanna minutes after the incident, records show. However, Parra was then apparently too "intoxicated and upset" to be interviewed by other officers that night.
In past statements, police officials have denied that there was any bias in the investigation because the two were not family members and don’t share any financial ties.
The department also said it stands by how Hanna handled Massucci’s case.
"(Det. Hanna has) done this many times where he's known people, he's investigated cases, victim and/or suspect, that he knows. So being biased, doesn't happen. He's arrested people that he's known," said Lt. Gary Novak, the Prescott police public information officer, during a previous interview (see below).
“It's Prescott. Right? I mean everybody grew up here together. So, a lot of people know a lot of people," Novak said. "The detective that investigated this case, born and raised here, grew up here. So, he knows a lot of people. So, it does happen where people call a specific officer."
Prescott Police Department policies state that "members of this department shall refrain from maintaining personal relationships with victims, witnesses or other individuals during the course of any official contact." If they do have such contact, "the employee shall promptly notify his/her uninvolved immediate supervisor."
The department did not respond to questions about whether Hanna notified supervisors of his relationship with Parra.
Hanna never called Massucci to get his side of the story before having officers track him down, arrest him at gunpoint, and take him in for questioning, records show.
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"Detective came in. He opened up a folder. Put it on the table. Had a photo of me inside the convenience store. He said I'm going to ask you some questions. I told him I was going to plead the fifth. He closed the file and said I got you on camera. And he told me I was being charged with four felony charges," Massucci said.
"I was prosecuted with extreme prejudice. No one did their due diligence. Nobody was interested in finding out the truth. They only wanted to go with what their friend said," he said.
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The Yavapai County Attorney’s Office dismissed the charges Massucci's case earlier this year.
YCAO also did not respond to questions regarding the connection between Hanna and Parra.
This type of relationship has been recognized as problematic in other places.
Following an ABC15 investigation into a Glendale police officer who repeatedly tasered a man, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office opened a criminal investigation.
But then-Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel later declared a conflict of interest and sent the case to the Attorney General once she learned the officer had previously coached her children in youth baseball.
Contact ABC15 Chief Investigator Dave Biscobing at Dave@ABC15.com.
