Category: Court News

KINGMAN – Two women who engaged in sexual activity with inmates at the state prison in Golden Valley appeared for separate Wednesday hearings in Mohave County Superior Court. Defense attorney Mike Manusia asked that Melony Petrovffsky, 50, Golden Valley, be spared from lock up for her guilty plea to an unlawful sexual conduct by a correctional employee charge. “She’s completely humiliated and remorseful,” Manusia told Judge Rick Lambert. “She is sick with grief.” Prosecutor James Schoppmann urged the Court to send a sentencing message that fortifies the integrity of the justice system that he said Petrovffsky stained. “The system itself…

DOLAN SPRINGS – A firefighter who has relocated to Illinois can partly thank the pandemic for not being sent to jail for stealing roughly $24,000 from the Dolan Springs-based Lake Mohave Ranchos Fire District (LMRFD). Mohave County Superior Court Judge Rick Lambert ordered a one-year probation term for Phillip Picard, 32, without incarceration. Picard pleaded guilty to theft in a scheme involving collecting pay for some days and hours he did not work. Defense attorney Virginia Crews told the Court that Picard quickly and fully reimbursed the district when the compensation anomalies were discovered in early 2018, well before he was…

GOLDEN VALLEY – Multiple units from multiple law enforcement agencies engaged in vehicular pursuit of a suspect who pepper sprayed the face of a state trooper in Golden Valley Wednesday. The Department of Public Safety (DPS) said the ordeal began with a routine traffic stop of a Dodge pickup truck at 4:40 p.m. at the Maverick on Highway 68. “The male suspect driver was uncooperative with the trooper, sprayed pepper spray in the face of our trooper and fled the scene,” DPS said. “A pursuit ensued. The suspect drove into a mobile home park and began driving in circles, finally…

TOPOCK – The Mohave County sheriff’s office reports it is investigating a deliberate vehicular homicide in the Colorado River community of Topock. Agency spokeswoman Anita Mortensen said deputies responded Wednesday 1at 7:48 p.m. to a residence in the 13000 block of S. Shore Parkway. “John Michael Bondello, 49, Topock, was found to have been struck by a motor vehicle and was pronounced dead on scene,” Mortensen said. She said detectives subsequently responded to conduct the investigation. Mortensen said it was learned that Bondello had been in an argument with his friend James Richard Edwards, 50, Buckeye. “Bondello ultimately armed himself…