Category: Court News

KINGMAN – Emotion ran high and tears flowed freely during Thursday’s initial appearance and arraignment for a Kingman teenager charged in the deaths of two fellow Lee Williams High School student athletes and the serious injury of two others during a high-speed traffic accident. Defense attorney Brad Rideout entered not guilty pleas for Brady Shuffler, 16, during a hearing packed with people. Parents, family and friends of the victims and the defendant, and various community members, filled every seat in the courtroom, with many standing in the back. Extra security was present inside the courtroom, and was posted outside the…

MOHAVE COUNTY – A decision to repair rather than replace a damaged wing section resulted in a deadly airplane crash in south Mohave County more than two years ago. That’s the conclusion of the National Transportation Board (NTSB) investigation report published Aug. 23. The NTSB said that Falcon Executive Aviation (FEA) had its Beechcraft King Air C90 under government contract for firefighting missions with the U.S. Forest Service since 2007. A pilot and an air tactical group supervisor passenger were killed when the aircraft crashed and burned on July 10, 2021. The report said the twin turboprop had flown multiple…

KINGMAN – A student threat targeting Black Mountain Elementary School in Golden Valley is under investigation by the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO). Discovery of a communication of concern occurred on campus after school hours Monday. “School staff were notified that a note had been located, written by an unidentified student, claiming an act of violence would occur,” said MCSO spokeswoman Anita Mortensen. She said that the Kingman Unified School District notified parents by email Monday and that the message did not specify the nature of the “act’’ purportedly planned for Tuesday, Aug. 30. “After a thorough investigation, it has…

KINGMAN – A man who stabbed his older friends in their Golden Valley home last fall has been sentenced to a decade in prison. The sentence imposed Aug. 25 for Alexander Cameron, 20, was the maximum punishment possible under terms of a plea agreement convicting him of two counts of aggravated assault. “We don’t have a clue why this happened,” said a 65-year-old man who told Mohave County Superior Court judge Rick Lambert that he and his wife were attacked unexpectedly after Cameron exhibited strange behavior during his Nov. 18, 2022 visit at their home in the 3400 block of…

KINGMAN – A Mohave County Superior Court jury acquitted a Bullhead City man at his sex offense trial in Kingman Wednesday. Tom Villanueva, 48, was found not guilty of two charges of sexual conduct with a minor and one count of indecent exposure. Deputy Mohave County Attorney Amanda Claerhout said the daughter of Villanueva’s former partner claimed the defendant began sexually abusing her when she was nine or ten years old. Claerhout said the sexual activity that occurred in separate homes over time escalated to intercourse. Defense attorney Aaron Reed told the jury that false allegations and lies prompted the…

KINGMAN – A California man who had sex with his teenage neighbor from Orange County at his condominium in Lake Havasu City has entered a plea agreement that spares him from prison. The deal for Glenn Costa, 44, was entered last Wednesday, Aug. 24, in Mohave County Superior Court in Kingman. Charges of sexual conduct with a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor are watered down and away in a deal that will convict the businessman of attempted sexual abuse. Deputy Mohave County attorney Jackson Koonce told the Court that the defendant had been a neighbor of…