Category: Court News

MOHAVE COUNTY –  The State of Arizona is on the clock to respond to a legal brief formally requesting reversal of the Dec., 2022 protective designation of the Hualapai Ground Water Basin as an Irrigation Non-Expansion Area (INA). The pleading filed April 15 by Tucson-based Hofmeyr Law requests that Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Joseph P. Mikitish direct the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) to overturn former Director Tom Buschatzke’s Findings, Decision and Final Order that granted Mohave County’s request to designate the INA to prohibit additional groundwater use by expanded agriculture production north of Kingman. On behalf of…

MOHAVE COUNTY – Six arrests are reported in the culmination of a four-month long investigation of illegal drug dealing in the communities of Dolan Springs, Meadview and Kingman. Personnel from local law enforcement agencies assigned to the MAGNET narcotic task force reportedly identified Wsbaldo Lazarit, 36, Dolan Springs as a source of fentanyl distribution early this year. “Detectives learned that Lazarit and his co-conspirators were responsible for stealing at least two Hyundai vehicles from Kingman,” said Mohave County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Anita Mortensen. She said public safety concerns saw authorities terminate an April 11 pursuit of a fleeing stolen vehicle…

Benjamin Nettrour BULLHEAD CITY – A Camp Verde man will serve lengthy incarceration in a drugged driving traffic fatality. Mohave County Superior Court Judge Derek Carlisle ordered a 28.5-year prison term for Benjamin Nettrour, 37, during an April 26 sentencing hearing. The Department of Public Safety said Nettrour was northbound on U.S. 93 when the pickup truck he was driving rear-ended a passenger vehicle, pushing it into the median where it rolled 23 miles north of Kingman  last June. A passenger in the vehicle, Angelina Ortega, 52, Chloride, was dead at the scene. Two other passengers were hospitalized with injuries….

Angel Caldera LAKE HAVASU CITY – A Lake Havasu City man faces a mandatory prison sentence following his conviction at trial in a shooting death. A Mohave County Superior Court jury found Angel Caldera guilty of manslaughter following deliberation in Kingman on Friday, April 26. The jury declined to convict Caldera, 23, of second-degree murder, favoring instead conviction for the lesser included offense of manslaughter. The panel rejected the self-defense claim offered by Legal Defender Jonathan Robinson. There was no dispute that Caldera had kicked Arnell Bell, 19, out of a residence at 2595 McCulloch Boulevard N for failure to…

KINGMAN – An arrest is reported after a Kingman woman alleged her ex-husband deliberately struck the bike she was riding Saturday afternoon, April 20. Mohave County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) deputies responded to the victim’s residence after being notified a vehicular assault had occurred in the area of Northfield Ave. and Tommie Dr. “She advised that she had been struck by a vehicle,” said MCSO Public Information Officer Anita Mortensen. “The victim alleged that while riding her bike she heard a vehicle accelerating and saw a white SUV driven by her ex-husband.” The woman reportedly claimed the vehicle clipped the rear…

KINGMAN – A man who set fire to a maintenance facility building on the Mohave County Adult Detention Center campus in Kingman was released from custody following a two-month jail stay on Tuesday, April 24. His same day release from the Detention Center was a condition of the plea agreement that John Williamson, 57, entered before Judge Billy Sipe. Williamson pleaded guilty to an attempted jail destruction related charge while arson and criminal trespass counts are dismissed. Mohave County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) reports reveal Williamson requested and received a ride from a deputy to a downtown Kingman truck stop on…