Category: Court News

LAKE HAVASU CITY – A former Lake Havasu City businessman is going to the Arizona Department of Corrections after a Mohave County judge rejected pleas for probation Thursday. Tim McDonald, 48, was given a 4.5-year prison sentence, the maximum punishment possible under terms of a plea agreement accepted by judge Billy Sipe. Deputy Mohave County attorney James Schoppmann told a trial jury that McDonald formerly operated the Offshore Custom Marine boat consignment business in Lake Havasu. Schoppmann said the enterprise would sell boats for people who agreed to pay 10% commission. Schoppmann told jurors that McDonald kept the proceeds, depriving…

BULLHEAD CITY – Mandatory prison terms are specified in proposed plea agreements that will resolve Bullhead City drug dealing cases. Rene Carranza-Sanchez pleaded guilty Tuesday to possession of dangerous drugs for sale in a deal requiring Mohave County Superior Court Judge Rick Lambert to impose a five-year prison term at a sentencing hearing scheduled August 14. The deal dismisses other charges for alleged narcotics and weapons offenses. Prosecutor Morgan Carstensen said the charges result from a warrant-based search conducted on December 7, 2019 at a home in the 1900 block of Sea Breeze Lane. She said officers confiscated about two…

BULLHEAD CITY – Mandatory prison terms are specified in proposed plea agreements that will resolve Bullhead City drug dealing cases. Rene Carranza-Sanchez pleaded guilty Tuesday to possession of dangerous drugs for sale in a deal requiring Mohave County Superior Court Judge Rick Lambert to impose a five-year prison term at a sentencing hearing scheduled August 14. The deal dismisses other charges for alleged narcotics and weapons offenses. Prosecutor Morgan Carstensen said the charges result from a warrant-based search conducted on December 7, 2019 at a home in the 1900 block of Sea Breeze Lane. She said officers confiscated about two…

KINGMAN – The horrific murder of a Kingman woman over a custody dispute involving her grandchildren ended Friday with the sentencing of the victim’s daughter who pleaded guilty to first degree murder. Mohave County Superior Court Judge Derek Carlisle imposed a life prison sentence for Carrie Vanover, 24. Co-defendant Mark Baldonado, 32, was previously sent to the Arizona Department of Corrections under an identical plea agreement. Both convicted killers must remain in prison for at least 25 years before possible parole windows open. Various authorities, investigative reports, evidence and admissions paint a consistent picture of why and how Shawn Vanover,…

KINGMAN – A lover’s quarrel at a Kingman motel resulted in the death of one Peach Springs woman and the arrest of another on a second-degree murder charge. Police responded to a report of an unresponsive woman at the Days Inn East just before 11:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 9. The suspect, Leanne Watahomigie, 34, was performing CPR on her girlfriend Nellita Smith, 38, when officers arrived at room #119 on the property at 3881 E. Andy Devine Avenue. “Nellita was determined to be deceased and she was found to have a contusion to her right eye, as well as…