Domestic violence suspect arrested in stabbing assault at VOC resort2 min read

At 2:07 a.m., Saturday, Sept. 19, Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a resort located in the 6200 block of State Route 179 in the Village of Oak Creek for reports of a male subject, later identified as 34-year-old Andre Scroggins, of Gilbert, allegedly hitting a female victim inside their room.

Witnesses reportedly stated they heard a female yelling that her baby was not safe.

Upon arrival, YCSO deputies reportedly found the victim on the ground outside the hotel reportedly with Scroggins on top of her. Both were reportedly covered with blood. Deputies took Scroggins into custody.

Sedona Fire District crews were dispatched at the same time, according the SFD Battalion Chief Pat Ojeda, for a domestic violence situation which reported blood in the area and staged until YCSO cleared the area.

Deputies discovered Scroggins had reportedly beaten and stabbed the victim throughout the altercation. The victim had a badly swollen face with many injuries to include multiple lacerations and puncture wounds about her head, left shoulder and chest.

In addition, the reportedly victim stated as she was being attacked inside the hotel room on the bed, her infant child was in close proximity to the attack and was in danger.

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The deputies were then told the infant was still inside the hotel room where the couple was staying.

The deputies responded to the hotel room where they found the child inside crying and screaming. The child was taken into temporary custody by the Arizona Department of Child Services. The hotel room reportedly sustained considerable damage to include being covered with a large amount of blood in virtually every room, according to YCSO.

The female victim was transported by medical helicopter to the Flagstaff Medical Center for her injuries, Ojeda said.

After being arrested, Scroggins reported he had been injured in the hand during the altercation and was transported to the Verde Valley Medical Center. After he was released by medical personnel, Scroggins was then booked into the Yavapai County Detention Center in Camp Verde.

Scroggins is facing two counts of aggravated assault, endangerment, disorderly conduct with a deadly weapon, and criminal damage. Scroggins is currently in the Yavapai County Detention Center in Camp Verde on a $200,000 bond.

SFD crews were on scene until 3:30 a.m., Ojeda said. YCSO investigators were still on scene through the morning.

Christopher Fox Graham

Christopher Fox Graham is the managing editor of the Sedona Rock Rock News, The Camp Verde Journal and the Cottonwood Journal Extra. Hired by Larson Newspapers as a copy editor in 2004, he became assistant manager editor in October 2009 and managing editor in August 2013. Graham has won awards for editorials, investigative news reporting, headline writing, page design and community service from the Arizona Newspapers Association. Graham has also been a guest contributor in Editor & Publisher magazine and featured in the LA Times, New York Post and San Francisco Chronicle. He lectures on journalism, media law and the First Amendment and is a nationally recognized performance aka slam poet. In January 2025, the International Astronomical Union formally named asteroid 29722 Chrisgraham (1999 AQ23) in his honor at the behest of Lowell Observatory, citing him as "an American journalist and longtime managing editor of Sedona Red Rock News. He is a nationally-recognized slam poet who has written and performed multiple poems about Pluto and other space themes."

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