The Desert Freedom Press Publisher Jennifer Jones was arrested Friday afternoon in the Quartzsite Post Office by Sergeant Xavier Frausto and Police Chief Jeff Gilbert. Jones states that she repeatedly asked them what the charge was, but they refused to tell her.  Later, she finally learned that she had been charged with felony witness tampering, over an unsubstantiated allegation made by a woman named Denise Florian.

Florian, who admits to having a drug and alchohol problem moved to Quartzsite over the summer and was almost immediately appointed to the town personnel board to oversee the appeal hearings of the Quartzsite police officers wrongfully terminated over the summer. She was subsequently appointed to the town Health and Development Board which then made recommendations to the council about how much money to give the Senior Center, Museum, and Chamber of Commerce.

According to Jones, Florian had assaulted her in a severly drunken state a few weeks earlier at a local restaurant. For obvious reasons, the Jones did not call the police as Jennifer was not injured and the police have not protected them in the past.