Significant jail time has been imposed for a man who left his young children unattended in Lake Havasu City last fall. John Tucker, 28, pleaded guilty to child abuse by domestic violence and possession of drug paraphernalia.
A Good Samaritan discovered that the children, four and six years of age, were all alone in a Mesquite Avenue apartment where a pipe with marijuana residue was discovered last October. Though neglected, the kids were otherwise unharmed.
Mohave County Superior Court Judge Rick Lambert, during an April 29 sentencing hearing in Kingman, told Tucker that it was disturbing that he told so many lies when initially contacted by police. Judge Lambert said the untruths included that he paid someone to watch his children.
Lambert noted Tucker told officers that he had gone grocery shopping, yet he had no groceries. The other lie, Lambert said, was that Tucker claimed he was only gone for 30 minutes while the children were actually left alone for more than two hours.
“We can be thankful because a good person found those children and not some child molester or some other nefarious person,” Lambert said.
Tucker told the Judge that he wanted to cooperate with probation and work with Department of Child Safety officials so that someday his kids could live at home with him. Lambert ordered Tucker to begin serving a 250 day jail term by May 29, followed by three years of probation.
