Category: Court News

Two of three defendants charged in a Bullhead City drug bust have entered plea agreements to resolve their cases short of trial. Jacob Earle Beane, 39, Matthew Grady Sandman, 40 and Micka Fern Kutschat, 26, were arrested when law enforcement officers conducted a February 5, 2018 search of a home in the 1800 block of Granada Drive. Bullhead City police spokeswoman Emily Fromelt said methamphetamine was found throughout the residence, as well as a small amount of marijuana and some drug paraphernalia. She said 18 grams of meth was located during a search of Beane’s vehicle. Kutschat, Beane’s girlfriend, pleaded…

An alleged drug dealer from Lake Havasu City will serve prison time and probation under terms of a plea agreement entered in Kingman. Brianna Lyn Thompson, 26, pleaded guilty Wednesday to possession of narcotic drugs for sale, possession of dangerous drugs for sale and aggravated taking identities of others. The convictions stem from a July, 2017 traffic stop of Thompson’s vehicle in the vicinity of Mesquite Avenue and Civic Center Lane.  Prosecutor Jefferson Pyper told the Court that Thompson was a passenger at the time and that officers observed in plain view on the floorboard a cotton ball, commonly associated with…

A Lake Havasu City woman will be convicted in a second arson case after entering a plea agreement May 23. Vanessa Byrd, 42, was first charged with arson of a residential structure for a February, 2016 fire that caused more than $10,000 in damage to a residence. Prosecutor James Schoppmann said that arriving firefighters heard Byrd making nonsensical statements about butterflies and flowers. She pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of criminal damage and was placed on probation in April, 2017. Three months later Byrd was spotted with a five gallon gas can running from a burning RV in the…

The Mohave County Sheriff’s office reports the arrest of a Williams resident for sex offenses committed 15 years ago in Kingman. Agency spokeswoman Anita Mortensen said Thomas Wayne Nordyke, 69, was arrested Tuesday night and booked into the Coconino County jail in Flagstaff. Mortensen said the Mohave County investigation began on April 12 following contact with a detective in the Coconino County Sheriff’s office. “During the course of their investigation on an unrelated case, it was revealed that an alleged sex offense had occurred in Mohave County in 2004 involving Nordyke and a female victim,” Mortensen said. “The offense was alleged…