LAKE HAVASU CITY – A mandatory prison plea agreement has been entered for a Lake Havasu City man charged in a three-scene crime spree last summer. Authorities allege that Tony Crawford, 40, shot up an unoccupied home before committing two armed robberies last August 5.
Nine of the charges in a 12-count indictment are dismissed in exchange for Crawford’s guilty pleas involving each of the crime scenes.
Crawford is convicted of first discharging a firearm at a residence at 3080 Mescalaro Drive.
Deputy Mohave County Attorney Leah Nelson said the defendant was staying at his brother’s house on Mescalaro when he fired approximately 26 rounds from a firearm into an unoccupied neighboring residence. Nelson previously indicated through pleadings that Crawford told police that he believed gang members occupied the home and that he understood an FBI agent had been killed there.
Nelson told the Court that Crawford drove from the house shooting scene to separate businesses where he committed back-to-back armed robberies.
Nelson said Crawford first robbed a clerk at gunpoint at the Texaco convenience store at 1571 South Palo Verde Boulevard. He reportedly next drove to the Pancho Villa Taco Shop at 717 North Lake Havasu Avenue where another clerk was robbed at gunpoint.
No one was hurt at the house shoot or at the robbed businesses.
Lake Havasu City police sergeant Kyle Ridgway said an officer spotted the suspect vehicle and that Crawford tossed large wads of cash from the window during a three-mile pursuit that ended back at the Mescalaro Drive house shooting site.
Crawford was apprehended and reportedly provided a full confession regarding the crime spree. Terms of the plea deal require Superior Court Judge Derek Carlisle to impose a 12-year prison term at a March 19 sentencing hearing.
Dave Hawkins
