Reporter investigating where state Sen. Wendy Rogers lives in Arizona hit with restraining order

Arizona state Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, has convinced a judge to issue an order barring a reporter from contacting her at home.

Flagstaff Justice Court Magistrate Judge Amy Criddle signed the restraining order April 19 against Camryn Sanchez, who covers the state Senate for the Arizona Capitol Times, after a petition from Rogers, R-Flagstaff. Criddle's order doesn't appear to show Sanchez doing anything out of the ordinary in her job as a reporter.

Sanchez was investigating where Rogers lives, according to a Capitol Times article about the court order, specifically an "injunction against harassment." State law requires lawmakers to reside in the legislative district they represent, and Sanchez was investigating properties in Tempe and Chandler that Rogers owned; the senator lists a Flagstaff address in paperwork related to her office.

Legislative District 7, which Rogers represents, includes Payson and Globe in Gila County and part of Flagstaff in Coconino County.

Rogers wrote on social media Thursday that a "creepy" reporter was "stalking me and my neighbors at my private residences with no explanation," and that a judge had issued the order for Sanchez's "bizarre behavior." She posted Ring doorbell photos of Sanchez ringing doorbells and standing outside one of the homes.

In a written statement released by the state Senate, Rogers said that she doesn't know what Sanchez "is capable of" and that no one "in their right mind would show up uninvited to my home at night. Therefore, I don't trust that this person wouldn't lash out and try to physically harm me in some fashion."

Rogers was censured last year in part for stating on social media that her political enemies should be hanged. She did not return an e-mail or phone call seeking comment.

Gary Grado, Capitol Times executive editor, did not return a voicemail. Sanchez declined to comment.

Rogers told the court that Sanchez rang the doorbell at her properties "near the Capitol" on April 18 and asked an electrician working for Rogers and her husband about the senator's "whereabouts." Rogers also told the court that Sanchez had approached her on the Senate floor in February and "persisted with questioning me even when rebuffed."

The petition states that Rogers submitted the complaint "at the urging of the Arizona Senate president" and asked that Sanchez "not be permitted access to the Arizona Senate."

Senate President suggested obtaining order

Senate President Warren Petersen said in an interview that Sanchez can still access the state Senate "as long as she doesn't approach (Rogers) at her desk." But he defended Rogers for obtaining the injunction and noted that Criddle, a "disinterested third party," approved it.

Sanchez previously made Rogers nervous by asking her questions when Rogers was at her desk, and after the reporter visited the residences Rogers "felt like her boundaries had been crossed multiple times," Petersen said. He said that Rogers told him Sanchez had gone "inside" a home under construction.

"She was pretty upset about it," he said of Rogers. When Rogers asked what she could do about Sanchez, he told her one remedy was to obtain a restraining order.

What Arizona law, courts say about residency for lawmakers

The Arizona Constitution requires lawmakers to have lived in the state for at least three years, and in the "county from which he is elected at least one year before his election" to run for office. Once in office, another constitutional provision requires lawmakers to be a "qualified elector" in their legislative district. Tempe and Chandler are in Maricopa County districts, but Rogers lives in Legislative District 7 in Flagstaff — the northern Arizona city that Rogers listed on her nominating paperwork and campaign finance report as her legal residence.

Still, court rulings have diluted the residency requirement over the years, making a lawmaker's legal residence a "state of mind" rather than a firm rule, according to newspaper reports from the late 1990s. After the August primary, now-Sen. Justine Wadsack, R-Tucson, successfully beat a challenge to her legal residency when she claimed she was forced to move out of her Tucson family home in a Democratic-leaning district because of attacks by "Antifa" and into a rented room in a Republican-leaning district, where she won her election in November.

The Capitol Times reported that Rogers and her husband signed a document that stated they are "currently residing" in Tempe in a January 2023 deed for a home Rogers and her husband purchased in a housing development near Stellar Airpark in Chandler.

The article also states that Rogers collected $19,754 in payments for mileage and subsistence between March 31, 2022, and Jan 6, 2023, in addition to her $24,000 yearly lawmaker's salary. Lawmakers who live in Maricopa County receive considerably smaller payments.

Rogers likely could not have won election in Tempe or the Chandler district, which are Democratic-leaning.

Petersen downplayed the Capitol Times' story, saying "if you have three homes, you get to decide which one is a residence."

Reach the reporter at rstern@arizonarepublic.com or 480-276-3237. Follow him on Twitter @raystern.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona judge bars reporter from contacting Sen. Wendy Rogers at home