Category: Court News

LAKE HAVASU CITY – A Lake Havasu City man has been arrested for allegedly raping a sleeping woman at the Crazy Horse campground. The 39-year-old victim and her daughter ended up in an altercation with her alleged assailant about 12:30 a.m., on Sept. 7. The woman told officers she was being raped by 30-year-old Jeremy Sorenson when she woke up. The daughter said Sorenson walked by her and into her mother’s bedroom after asking where she was. A physical fight ensued when Sorenson exited the bedroom several minutes later, according to a police report. It said Sorenson twice punched the…

GRAND CANYON – Following an investigation by Special Agents of the National Park Service (NPS) Investigative Services Branch and U.S. Park Ra ngers, Thomas Grabarek, 71, of Flagstaff, Ariz., pled guilty on September 8, 2020 to misdemeanor violations for starting a wildland fire within Grand Canyon National Park. The Cottonwood Creek Fire ignited approximately 64 acres in the Inner Canyon along the Tonto Trail near Horseshoe Mesa. On October 27, 2019, while backpacking near Cottonwood Creek, Grabarek started a fire by lighting toilet paper in an attempt to incinerate it. High winds that day allowed the fire to quickly spread uphill,…

LAKE HAVASU CITY – A drug dealer from Lake Havasu City has entered a mandatory prison plea agreement to prevent the longer sentence he would receive if convicted of all counts at trial. Scott Holdren, 54, pleaded guilty on Sept. 1 to possession of dangerous drugs for sale and misconduct involving weapons. Prosecutor Jacob Cote informed the Court that Holdren was the subject of a July 7 traffic stop on McCulloch Blvd., south of highway 95. He said officers confiscated a handgun from the vehicle and that Holdren was a prohibited possessor by virtue of a prior felony conviction. Cote…

BULLHEAD CITY – Bullhead City council member Annette Wegmann plans to enter a plea agreement to resolve her pending criminal case short of trial. Details of the deal are not yet public, but they appear to reduce a felony theft charge associated with her former employment to a misdemeanor so Wegmann would be able to remain on council. Defense attorney Ken Sondgeroth, during a Tuesday hearing in Kingman, indicated Wegmann’s case would be transferred from one court to another for purpose of misdemeanor conviction. “My client has agreed to a plea agreement which is actually going to result in a…

BULLHEAD CITY – A Bullhead City man will go to prison for nearly a decade through terms of a plea agreement resolving drug case arrests that occurred just a few months apart last year. A 9.25-year prison sentence is mandated in the deal entered Wednesday for Fred Villareal, 25. Villareal will be convicted of possession of narcotic drugs for sale for his April 24 arrest in Bullhead City. Deputy Mohave County attorney Jacob Cote said officers seized about one pound of heroin after serving a search warrant at the defendant’s Havasupai Drive apartment. The drugs were reportedly found in a…

FT. MOHAVE – Late Aug. drug seizures and arrests in Fort Mohave are reported in a news release issued Wednesday by the Mohave County Sheriff’s office. Agency spokeswoman Anita Mortensen said deputy observation of a non-working license plate light led to an 8:53 p.m., Aug. 28 traffic stop in the 4500 block of Camino Viuda. Mortensen said the driver and passenger were directed to get back inside after they exited the vehicle. She said the driver, Scott Bellue, 53, Bullhead City, indicated he was not in possession of a driver’s license and that a records check indicated it had been…