MOHAVE COUNTY – Several Colorado River community drug cases were handled during Friday hearings conducted at the Mohave County courthouse in Kingman. The harshest outcome was afforded Austyn Bird, 24, Bullhead City.
Judge Billy Sipe imposed the 9.25-year prison term stipulated in the plea agreement convicting Bird in three felony cases while two others are dismissed. Bird pleaded guilty two sale of narcotic drug charges and two counts of possession of narcotic drugs for sale, offenses committed in March, May and April of this year.
Judge Sipe noted that Bird possessed 42.7 grams and 25.7 grams of heroin when arrested on separate occasions. Sipe said that he possessed $8,170 in cash during one arrest and $5,190 on another was an indication that Bird was dealing drugs for profit, as opposed to generating revenue to fund his own habit.
An Ontario, California man entered a plea agreement involving a Feb. 2019 traffic stop in the 2100 block of Mustang in Mohave Valley. A possession for sale charge is being reduced to an attempted possession of dangerous drugs for sale conviction in the case against Javier Escalante, 41.
Escalante was in the vehicle along with co-defendant Maria Kormes, 35, Mohave Valley. Prosecutor Jonathon Robinson told Judge Derek Carlisle that 25 grams of methamphetamine was confiscated from Kormes’ purse.
Kormes was to enter a plea agreement Friday, but her case was continued due to her illness. Escalante’s deal requires Judge Carlisle to impose a 3.5-year prison term at a Jan. 8 sentencing hearing.
In another case, Judge Carlisle chose probation over prison for a Bullhead City man who pleaded guilty to a possession of dangerous drugs charge, reduced from an original sales count. Detton Bryant, 52, told Judge Carlisle he was ashamed of himself for his Feb. 2015 arrest.
Bryant’s attorney Virginia Crews said her client was passed out in a car when police found ten grams of methamphetamine. Bryant was placed on probation for three years.
Dave Hawkins
Was Feb 2015 or Feb 2019?