BULLHEAD CITY – A drug dealing ex-con from Bullhead City is returning to the Arizona Department of Corrections. A 5.5-year prison term was ordered Wednesday for Ty Wharton, 27. Wharton pleaded guilty to sale of narcotic drugs for an April transaction involving heroin at 660 Highway 95 in Bullhead City. Defense attorney Ken Beane said drug addiction fueled his client’s criminal behavior and that Wharton wants to get clean. Mohave County Superior Court Judge Rick Lambert said that Wharton lacked interest in rehabilitation until threatened with extended incarceration. Lambert noted three prior felony and four misdemeanor convictions, probation failures and…

KINGMAN – A Laughlin resident snared in an undercover sting operation targeting male adults attempting to prey upon minors for sex faces a mandatory prison sentence following conviction at trial. The jury deliberated about two hours before returning guilty verdicts in August in Kingman in the case against Jay Lawler, 46. The initial operation where a male Mohave County Sheriff’s detective began communicating on social media while posing as a female teenager produced indictments of about one dozen men from Parker to Las Vegas. The detective diverted communications to text messages while posing as “Sabrina”, a fictitious 13-year-old with whom…