Category: Court News

More and more trials are being conducted in the Mohave County court system. Court Administrator Kip Anderson said 89 trials were conducted in the just concluded fiscal year compared with 58 in fiscal year 2017-18, an increase of roughly 30%. “These numbers represent juries scheduled and called to appear,” Anderson said. “Other trials were set and then canceled.” Presiding Judge Charles Gurtler explained that there are occasions where jurors are summoned but trials are not conducted because cases are resolved or rescheduled at the last minute. Gurtler said increasing criminal case filings are driving up the trial numbers. “Criminal filings…

A local judge has rejected a plea agreement proposed for a Bullhead City resident charged in separate assaults. Judge Billy Sipe said the deal requiring a 3.5 year prison term for 26-year-old Luis Romero was too lenient. “I just simply cannot accept this limitation,” Sipe said during a Tuesday hearing in Kingman. Sipe said Romero deserves more prison time for separate attacks last year; one involving a girlfriend and the other a man who was beaten inside and outside of a vehicle in the 2000 block of Highway 95. “This is a case where the defendant severely beat the victim…

A four year prison term was ordered Tuesday for a Bullhead City man charged with pummeling and robbing a suspected snitch and for possessing more than a usable amount of heroin. The punishment was stipulated in a plea agreement entered for Jonathan Chades, 30. Chades previously pleaded guilty to robbery and possession of narcotic drugs for sale. Deputy Mohave County attorney Greg McPhillips said Chades and two co-defendants confronted a man they believed was working with law enforcement as an informant on December 6, 2018. He said Chades punched and kicked the man during the violent encounter in the 700…

A Lake Havasu City man might be the only one in a group of nine defendants to avoid prison in an undercover sting operation targeting men preying upon underage women. Daniel Martin, 33, was placed on probation for 15 years Friday and ordered to spend one year in the Mohave County jail. Martin will also be required to perform 200 hours of community work service when his jail sentence is completed. The award winning body builder pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of attempted luring a minor for sexual exploitation. Martin and eight other men from Las Vegas, Lake Havasu,…

Local authorities say four men used an Uber to smuggle marijuana into Mohave County from California. Bullhead City police department spokeswoman Emily Fromelt said the Uber driver was unaware that the men possessed marijuana after picking them in Barstow. Fromelt said the men were traveling to Kingman when contacted during a June 27 traffic stop on Interstate 40 near Yucca, about 20 miles south of Kingman. “During the traffic stop, 47.6 pounds of marijuana was located in two large bags in the trunk of the Uber car. A hand gun was also located in the vehicle,” Fromelt said. “The Uber…

A Fort Mohave man’s personable testimony provided insight into the world of drug addiction in a trial during which his attorney conceded five convictions while successfully beating a sales rap and mandatory prison. The Mohave County Superior Court jury acquitted Ezequiel Lopez-Cabrera, 32, of possession of a narcotic drug for sale. The jury convicted Lopez-Cabrera of five felony offenses involving possession of heroin and methamphetamine and paraphernalia to ingest both drugs, the charges conceded at the start of the trial.  The defendant told the jury about his early use of methamphetamine at the age of 17 and how it made…