Category: Court News

MOHAVE COUNTY  – The MAGNET narcotics task force reports three significant Kingman area drug busts in the last three weeks. Jacob Gaul, 31, and Cody Siner, 30, were arrested following a 3:00 a.m. traffic stop on Oct. 12 in the area of 6000 Minerva Lane. Bullhead City Police Department Spokeswoman Emily Fromelt said officers confiscated a stolen firearm and about 2,300 “M-30” pills containing fentanyl from the vehicle. Fromelt said MAGNET seized additional drugs and made more arrests during separate Kingman area traffic stops on Oct. 26. Andrea Kough, 45, and Christopher Young, 41, were jailed for drug related charges…

KINGMAN – Today’s status hearing in the adult prosecution of a teenager charged in a deadly traffic accident is being continued to Nov. 29. Prosecutor James Schoppmann said he and defense attorney Brad Rideout rescheduled the hearing for Brady Shuffler, 16, because they are waiting on reports. Shuffler is free while awaiting trial for a mix of second-degree murder, aggravated assault and other charges for a high-speed April 13 single vehicle rollover that claimed the lives of two Lee Williams High School students. Schoppmann and Rideout have said they are trying to resolve the case by plea agreement rather than…

BULLHEAD CITY – There was little drama at a Thursday, Nov. 2 sentencing hearing in a Bullhead City homicide case. A Mohave County Superior Court jury last month convicted Kenneth Petrone, 28, of first-degree murder for the Nov. 5, 2022 stabbing death of his stepson Jake Arredondo, 26. Punishment imposed by Judge Billy Sipe is mandated under Arizona law. “It is ordered that the defendant is sentenced to natural life in the Arizona Department of Corrections,” Sipe said. “He is not eligible for any release on any basis whatsoever. He does have to spend the rest of his life in…

BULLHEAD CITY – There was little drama at a Thursday, Nov. 2 sentencing hearing in a Bullhead City homicide case. A Mohave County Superior Court jury last month convicted Kenneth Petrone, 28, of first-degree murder for the Nov. 5, 2022 stabbing death of his stepson Jake Arredondo, 26. Punishment imposed by Judge Billy Sipe is mandated under Arizona law. “It is ordered that the defendant is sentenced to natural life in the Arizona Department of Corrections,” Sipe said. “He is not eligible for any release on any basis whatsoever. He does have to spend the rest of his life in…

LAKE HAVASU CITY – Former Lake Havasu City police detective John Hickey Johnson is a wanted man more than a decade after allegedly stealing undercover investigation funds and committing evidence room crimes. Johnson was the focus of an internal criminal police investigation from April through Oct., 2013. Johnson was a 16-year veteran when he resigned from the police department and relocated to Charleston, Massachusetts. He was formally charged with 48 felony offenses including forgery, theft and fraud in April 2016. Known as “JJ” in the community, Johnson was accused of removing illegal drugs from the police department evidence room and…